


Love It If We Made It

by hemlock_and_ichor



Series: Dum Vivo Spero [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Normalized Incest, Sibling Incest, canine shifters, feline shifters, lupine shifters, omegaverse AU, vulpine shifters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:28:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25714330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hemlock_and_ichor/pseuds/hemlock_and_ichor
Summary: Inspired by the 1975 song of the same name. Kakashi and Obito navigate through life and their relationship with each other after Rin's death. After the Kyuubi attack both of them pitch in to take care of their sensei's child, and things get even more complicated.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Uchiha Obito
Series: Dum Vivo Spero [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1969798
Comments: 11
Kudos: 120





	1. Truth Is Only Hearsay

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfiction in this fandom. Personally, I have always been fascinated by the dynamics in the relationship between Kakashi and Obito, and this fanfiction is the result. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Wl1B7DPegc> (This is the video link to the song in case anyone wanted to listen to it) 

It starts with the numbness, Obito thought. He really didn’t feel anything for the first few days after the Kannabi Bridge incident. He didn’t see Kakashi at Rin’s funeral. Of course he wouldn’t be there. Obito was sure Kakashi hadn’t been hesitant for a moment when killing Rin. Then it came, a hollow feeling-the hollowness gradually filled up with sorrow, rage and everything in between. It rose and rose till it became a visceral feeling, like vomit kept down only by will. He managed to walk away calmly, giving a tight smile to Minato sensei, who looked concerned. He all but ran back to his apartment. His place in the Uchiha district was under lock and key after his grandmother died. Bursting into the bathroom, he promptly emptied his stomach into the toilet bowl. Rin, sweet Rin, always smiling, even with Kakashi’s hand through her chest. He vomited again, till he was dry heaving. He wondered asking Kakashi how he felt when he killed Rin. He could hear Minato sensei’s tired but sincere voice chiding him slightly in his mind; it was no way to talk to his remaining team mate. He couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry for him. All his energy sapped out, he curled himself into a fetal position on the bathroom floor and lost consciousness. “Obito, Obito! Wake up!” he woke up to cold water being sprinkled on his face. It was Kushina san. He thanked God that it was not Minato sensei, being around him felt really awkward after Rin’s death. Despite being one of the loudest people he knew, after Gai, Kushina had a really strong intuition and tact which Minato sensei lacked sometimes, they complimented each other quite well. “Is the door broken?” it was better than directly asking if Kushina san had broken the door. He clearly remembered locking it after entering. “Um, yeah.” Kushina said sheepishly, “But it is nothing a seal can’t fix!” Obito made a mental note to visit the furniture repair shop in the market later. Kushina was already handing him a cup of tea and biscuits she had found from God knows where, He didn’t remember having any in his apartment. “Eat. You vomited and lost consciousness because you didn’t eat.” “Minato was really worried about you after you left the funeral like that. I made him stay and came to your apartment to find you like this. I know things are awkward between him, you and Kakashi.” Kushina cringed slightly when saying Kakashi’s name, she knew it was a sensitive topic for Obito. Obito didn’t answer. “Minato’s going to be the next hokage you know? They’ll make the announcement the day after tomorrow.” she said in a desperate bid to change the topic before Obito shut her out too. “That’s good to hear.” Obito said without any emotion. Kushina wondered if Obito had comprehended her words fully. He showed no signs otherwise. “Say, Kushina san, can you tell Minato sensei sorry for me? I have already been assigned a mission from the mission desk. I know sensei has a lot on his plate right now. The last thing that should add to his jobs should be my own issues.” Kushina was not good at these things. She knew telling this to Minato would only warrant more questions. But one look at Obito’s face made her decide to just get on with it. The poor boy had just had a very bad shock. He needed all the support he could get in this situation. Walking back from Obito’s apartment to her own, she wondered if she should visit Kakashi too. Even among his peers, he was an odd one, and Minato was the one to usually offer him closure. Had Rin been present, she would probably have done an even better job of comforting both of her team mates. She was the one who used to break their fights after all. She was a calm, quiet and mediocre girl, as opposed to Kakashi’s genius and Obito’s loudness. She had nevertheless, managed to worm herself into all their hearts, enough to be affected this badly, she thought, trying to keep her own tears at bay. Minato had silently cried on her shoulders after Rin’s body was taken away for the burial preparations. But she was gone now; Kushina had no idea who would stop Obito and Kakashi’s fights now, if they ever spoke to each other after this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obito left to assist a chuunin check post near Kiri the next day. He didn’t wear his goggles. They were a proof of a time and person, both of which were gone. He wouldn’t need them again. He left an apology note in Minato sensei and Kushina san’s apartment for the former. He entered the check post with extra rations just in time to bump into Kakashi. The jounin was probably leaving with information regarding civilian immigrants from Kiri back to Konoha. They would immediately be added to the list of civilian citizens in Konoha, as the village would need as many people as possible who would be able to help with trade and weapons and ration supply, barring all active shinobi who were participating in the war. Kakashi stopped in his tracks on seeing Obito. His other eye, the one which Rin had transplanted with Obito’s sharingan, was covered. The medics would say that he was incredibly lucky to have gained an eye again. Apparently some unlucky shinobi, who had died in battle, had asked his eyes to be donated. So Obito gained another eye despite giving away one of his to Kakashi. Even the eye color was so similar to Kakashi’s grey one that it made them look like a pair of brothers with interchanged eyes. Obito hated it. “I hope you liked putting your hand through Rin’s chest. After all, you never really cared what happened to us. You were too busy being a genius.” he sneered. He shouldn’t have said that, Kakashi had done nothing to provoke him. Yet he couldn’t help it, he was so bitter, at himself, at the world, at Kakashi, their situation, their helplessness; everything. “I did my duty as a shinobi. Rin requested me to kill her. You were there when she said this.” Kakashi murmured, without inflection. Obito stomped away, his shoulders shaking with barely concealed rage. Kakashi stood there for a minute, and then he left. A part of his mind said that Obito had no reason for telling him off like that, but the other part echoed that he deserved it for being cold to both of his team mates, alive and dead. He pushed them into the deepest corners of his mind and focused on returning to Konoha. He did his best to ignore the blood in his hands, which wouldn’t go off no matter how much he washed them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The mission desk was empty, there were two more chuunin there, waiting for their missions. Obito went to the desk and delivered his report into the designated box. Asuma grinned at him, Aoba was waiting with him. “Back from your mission, eh?” he said. “Yeah. You guys leaving for one?” “No. We came to book training ground 18. We need to hone our skills, else we’ll get rusty. The chuunin on duty has left to get the permission form. Why don’t you join us?” Aoba said. “Sounds good. Count me in.” Obito answered. There was no reason to shirk training, especially if he wanted to get stronger and stop depending on others. On his way to the apartment, he was asked by a jounin to visit the hokage tower.”All the better to get this over with.” He thought. Minato sensei’s smile was disarming. Who would say that the same man had decimated over a thousand of Iwa shinobi after his team was attacked at the Kannabi bridge? “Obito. It is good to see you back safe.” His sensei, no, his kage said. “Yes sensei. Congratulations on your appointment as the Yondaime hokage. I am sorry I couldn’t be there during the declaration.” Obito said, he had been away from Konoha for almost four months. “It is okay Obito. You had a job to do. And my job as a hokage would have been endorsing the same for our shinobi population.” The Yondaime hokage said. “You’ve booked training ground 18 with Asuma and Aoba, isn’t it? I will sanction it. In your current form, constant training will see you becoming a jounin easily in two to three years. Rin wanted to see you as a jounin, don’t disappoint her memory.” Yet one of Minato sensei’s psychological words, he employed these tactics with both him and Kakashi, though the latter was much less susceptible to them. “Would you do me a favor Obito, please go to Kakashi’s apartment and send him to me. I think I’ll make him join the ANBU, he would be excellent there.” Sensei could have sent his ANBU guard to do the same, guess he really wanted both of them to make up. He couldn’t tell the hokage no in his face, could he? In front of Kakashi’s apartment, Obito knocked the door clearly, it swung open without any resistance. He still debated going in, Kakashi’s apartment was absolutely booby trapped with normal weapons and seals, courtesy of Kushina san. The last time Rin and Obito had stepped into his apartment with their sensei, an accidentally broken seal had released a vicious katon on them which had singed off the edges of his hair, Minato sensei had to counter it with a well placed suiton of his own. “Kakashi, you in there?” Obito hollered. No answer. Obito tried again, there was no response. Gingerly, he stepped inside. He tried to be as careful as possible to avoid any traps. There was a faint hissing sound coming from the kitchen, Obito went in, only to see Kakashi attempting to burn off his hand with boiling water. Batting off the hissing kettle from his hand, Obito looked at him. Kakashi looked like he was in a sort of daze, seemingly indifferent of his hand, a good part of which was covered in second and third degree burns. “What the hell are you doing!” he hissed. Obito could have been irrationally angry at him, but he wasn’t as heartless. He patched Kakashi as well as he could. A lifetime of practiced clumsiness and following Rin around when she was alive had led him to amass a decent amount of knowledge regarding first aid and healing in general. “You need to come to the hospital with me, then you will go to Minato sensei’s office from there. He has called you.” On seeing Kakashi cringe at the mention of hospital, he further said, “Otherwise I’ll tell sensei that you are neglecting your health. You should know how scary he can be then.” Kakashi had somehow returned to his original, almost catatonic state. “Kakashi! Can you listen to me? Okay, look at me Kakashi, look at me.” He had to use his hands to actually turn his face at him, even then, his eyes remained unfocused, with a faraway look in it. A slap on his face finally got his attention. “We are going to the hospital, Kakashi. No buts. Don’t you dare bail now. Else I won’t promise that you won’t be dragged there by an irate hokage. I also have to go to train. Come on.” He stopped pulling Kakashi when he heard him mumbling something “Huh?” “The blood won’t go away. I tried to wash it off so many times, it just won’t wash off. The blood keeps getting redder and redder.” Kakashi mumbled. “Surely you don’t mean that.” the bitterness had started to rear its ugly head. “But you don’t understand. I killed, and the blood remains. Take this away. What if I kill sensei, Kushina san? You?” okay, Obito hadn’t thought that Kakashi would react like this. His voice which had started as a hoarse whisper was gradually growing in volume till it sounded downright hysterical. No amount of imploring could calm him down. Obito was forced to use the last trick up his sleeve. He loosened the collar of his flak jacket and shoved Kakashi’s face into the crook of his neck. Being a submissive beta, Obito was technically equivalent to a recessive omega. He could produce just about enough pheromones which made him something between a beta and an omega. He had learnt from Rin that an omega’s pheromones worked to calm down a distressed alpha and vice versa. He was not a complete omega, but he hoped it would work. Apparently it did. He somehow managed to migrate himself with Kakashi onto the lone couch in the latter’s more or less barren apartment. He was pretty much on Kakashi’s lap as the former took intermittent sniffs of his pheromones. It would have been awkward if he were taller than Kakashi. The height difference helped in maintaining the position till Kakashi calmed down. Kushina burst into the apartment some time later, put two and two together and promptly left to inform Minato as well as Asuma of the situation and excuse them both for the day. She also brought a medic from god knows where who healed Kakashi’s hand without a word. Obito didn’t think Kakashi would have such an outburst; this made him wonder if the latter only felt extremes of emotions. Kakashi fell into an exhausted sleep in the evening. Obito went grocery shopping with Kushina for Kakashi. His apartment lacked edible things, he had no idea what he ate. While cooking dinner for his jounin team mate, Obito kept reminding himself that he was only doing this for Rin and sensei. But he felt otherwise, his traitorous mind was already starting to think of helping Kakashi as he was not in a sound state. Since he had already come this far, he would tell sensei to not make Kakashi join the ANBU. Most ANBU members had serious mental issues. There was a whole ward in the Konoha general hospital dedicated to such people with mental afflictions. He couldn’t imagine Kakashi being there, looking blank and vapid. Sleeping only when sedated. He missed their bantering, he grudgingly admitted to himself. Back at his apartment, he decide he would talk to his sensei, no, the hokage the next day.


	2. Modernity Has Failed Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So it starts. Kakashi and Obito will take Naruto's responsibility in this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are saints. The sheer number of hits and kudos blew me away.

“Kushina san? Do you think Kakashi should join the ANBU?” Obito had asked Kushina. She could detect the slightly concerned tone in Obito’s voice; she was worried for Kakashi too. Mikan was an accomplished healer; and she could not thank her enough for leaving the hospital at such short notice and heal an injured shinobi without asking any questions. “Both of them are manifesting signs of trauma in different ways.” Mikan had told her plainly. “But it seems that they are stable enough with each other. See that they avoid fighting with each other as the problem probably started when they fought earlier. Any relapses could be detrimental to their health. The Uchiha boy looked stressed enough as it is.” She had told her after listening to a truncated version of the events. She wondered if people would ever get peace in this situation. A hand on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts. “A penny for your thoughts, pretty lady?” Minato was smiling, the charmer. He would have to know. In a week, the life growing inside her would be a month old. She only hoped that nothing would go wrong. “Minato, I don’t think Kakashi should join the ANBU.” Minato sighed, “Kushina. You need to understand the gravity of the situation. Kakashi is a strong and able-bodied jounin who can handle his own in battle. Our shinobi forces are dwindling, gradually but surely. It is the ANBU who are doing the most to protect our village. Engaging Kakashi in such work will keep his mind off recent incidents. I know you don’t like it, but my hands are tied.” “That doesn’t mean you will convert him into a doll who only knows how to carry out missions perfectly! He has suffered enough damnit! Both of your students are suffering. Don’t you see it? I’m pretty sure you will do the same to Obito once he becomes a jounin. I have seen those men and women, Minato. They are gone, minds broken beyond repair!” ah, the infamous temper of the Red Hot Habanero. This was the Kushina he loved and cherished, strong and fiery. “It is for the village, for those people who look up to us, Kushina.” Minato had become the hokage again. There was no budging him, that voice brokered no further arguments.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minato did not like where this was going at all. Kakashi was observant, if not anything else. The shinobi lifestyle was ingrained in his blood. He had gone to Kakashi’s apartment the next evening to check on him. It broke his heart to see him like this. But it had to be done. He told Kakashi about joining the ANBU, unofficially. He asked him to guard Kushina as she was pregnant, and a jinchuuriki, which was an S-class secret. Kakashi did not tell him no. But he also told him something which alarmed him to no end. Obito had walked into his apartment without triggering any of the traps set up, which was not matter of joke. Even Minato had trouble entering Kakashi’s apartment without triggering a few traps. This could potentially mean that Obito was keeping him in the dark about his skills as a shinobi. If that were true, Obito could very well be a jounin level shinobi. He did not know why he had never seen it in him before. The boy had burst into his office the same morning, demanding Kakashi not be recruited by the ANBU. It took him a lot of effort to convince him otherwise, the announcement that Kushina was a jinchuuriki and pregnant and needed protection calmed him dowm somewhat, Obito was still not really convinced, but he could not go against him. Minato was his kage. His word was law for the population of Konoha, especially the shinobi. He had walked away without a word. He was sent back to the check post near Kiri again, so he left the next day. Kakashi joined ANBU. Minato learned from Kushina that Obito had left a good amount of pheromone soaked clothing articles for Kakashi, because no one else’s pheromones could calm him down when he felt particularly restless. “I know this is too soon, but I can’t help but think they will make good mates for each other.” She had said, words mirroring his own thoughts. He didn’t know if the thought pleased him or scared him, maybe both.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obito made a note to visit Mikoto and Fugaku at the Uchiha compound. Her frail disposition made it hard to believe that she was the leader of her clan. Her mate, Fugaku was a few months pregnant with a second child. Itachi, their first child, was Obito’s nephew. He adored the child and the child loved him too. Fugaku was a stern faced omega, but he had a heart of gold. His quiet nature and naturally grim expression had led the other Uchiha clan omegas to avoid him. They avoided Obito too. His brashness and clumsiness was not received well by most Uchiha, his cousin and her mate being the few exceptions. Obito and Fugaku had naturally gravitated towards each other, having been shunned by the others. Itachi had hugged him tight; he was such a cheerful child. Obito could only hope that this cheerfulness would last when he would be molded by the Uchiha elders into perfect clan heir material. These old men and women tended to sap out all the happiness and light from the next generations, their actions and words always had such an effect. Children were supposed to be happy, not glum and serious all the time. Obito was not an idealist, not anymore. Rin’s death had changed him like that. He knew that the life of a shinobi was fraught with death and hardships. The only respite he allowed himself from these thoughts was the prospect of having a child. He wanted children; the idea was really appealing to him. Mikoto and Fugaku had bade him farewell and wished for his safety during the mission. Fugaku had a hand on his growing belly. Seeing him like that, Obito wondered if he would ever get a chance of his own to carry a child. He visited Kushina next, congratulated her and wished for a safe delivery as he would probably not be there when she would give birth. He knew Kakashi was present nearby, but he didn’t appear once. Obito left Konoha the same day, unaware of the cogs rolling in Kakashi’s mind. His eyes on the dark figure which grew smaller and smaller, Kakashi was perplexed. Obito was not the secretive type, he loved and hated openly with nothing to covet, or so he used to think. He was wrong. Kakashi’s apartment was filled with Obito’s scent, thanks to those pheromone laden clothes. He was secretly pleased, the suppressed, more primal part of his mind taking pleasure at the gesture. Pakkun had supplied him with a few ways to preserve the scent from the pheromones for a long time, these were apparently techniques developed by his own ancestors both for hunting and other aesthetic purposes. He could sleep a little better now, thanks to Obito’s scent (not that he would ever admit it), not plagued with as many nightmares like before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days at the check post passed in a blur for Obito. With Konoha gaining a slight upper hand in the war, more civilian immigrants, fleeing from Kiri hunter-nins could be found at the post. Every month the chuunin posted there would learn of their hokage’s feats on the battlefield and in the village from the shinobi who would come with rations and other neccessties. Obito thought of Kushina san and her unborn child a lot. His mind would also stray towards Kakashi’s welfare, no matter how much he tried to stop it. Obito was still at the check post when the news of Konoha winning the war came. The head chuunin at the check post let Obito go back to Konoha soon after, saying that he was the youngest member and one of those working here the longest. It would have been an understatement to say that Obito was happy. His good mood was spoiled soon after when he was ambushed by an odd shinobi. He had blue skin and gills with shark like teeth. Judging from his hitai-ate, he was a missing nin from Kiri, making him all the more dangerous. Obito managed to escape with a dislocated shoulder, a few broken ribs, and a nasty gash on his thigh. He made it back to Konoha in record time, judging his state. Mikan san had scolded him a lot for trying to pop his shoulder back to place without any help, he gave up on trying to convince her that the dislocated shoulder could have costed him his life in front of the Kiri missing-nin. After treatment and rest, he had gone to the Uchiha compound to meet his newest nephew. Fugaku had named him Sasuke after the Sandaime’s father, Sasuke Sarutobi. Itachi was really happy to see him back. Little Sasuke was a spitting image of Mikoto, not unlike his brother, however, Itachi had a bit of Fugaku’s features in his face. Holding the little one in his arms, Obito was once again assaulted by thoughts of holding his own child like that. His musings were broken by a resounding howl which reverberated throughout the compound, shaking the ancient, highly stable foundations of the buildings. He was already handing Sasuke to Fugaku and sprinting towards the hokage tower when he saw it. A monstrous creature with flaming red and orange fur which kept swatting at the buildings and making them collapse like castles of cards. A fox with nine tails, the kyuubi! Wasn’t the Kyuubi sealed in Kushina san? Assuming the worst, he ran towards the center of the attack. He did not see his sensei or Kushina san anywhere. Where were the ANBU? He finally noticed them in all this din with civilians running screaming, the surroundings ruined, having borne the wrath of the kyuubi. He was thrown back a few metres by a swish of the Kyuubi’s tails. Then he saw Kakashi, he was running towards the hokage mansion. A part of the mansion had collapsed; he saw a flash of yellow there. It was Minato sensei, he was drawing something on his newborn child, the yellow hair was a dead giveaway. Kushina san was slumped beside him, gasping. “Sensei! Kakashi!” he screamed. “Obito! Kakashi! The sharingan can control the tailed beast.” Kushina told him with great difficulty, already on her last few breaths. The next few minutes were like a nightmare, they jumped to the top of hokage tower, which was almost eye level with the kyuubi. He worked in tandem with Kakashi to subdue the beast. The last thing he remembered seeing was Sensei’s bloody, sad smile. “ Take care of our son, both of you.” He had said, before falling to the ground, dead. Kushina was already gone. Obito had blacked out temporarily. He returned to consciousness by the piercing cry of a newborn. Kakashi was lying near sensei’s child, unconscious. Obito picked up the squirming infant, it was a boy and tried to bring Kakashi back to consciousness. Both of them stood amidst the rubble for a while, in front of their Sensei and Kushina san’s corpses. Kakashi nudged him, “We don’t have the time to cry.” He said softly. Right, shinobi did not have the time or luxury to cry. They were alerted by the shout of a jounin, it was Shikaku Nara, the jounin commander. “We have found the yondaime’s son and his students, sandaime sama.” He said. Soon they were whisked away to the hospital, which had thankfully been spared in the attack. He sat with Kakashi in one of the cabins. They could still hear the cries and moans of the injured and affected in the hospital from there. One of the nurses on duty had come and given them first aid after swaddling the baby with a clean cloth. He looked even more like sensei, having been cleaned thoroughly. He continued crying still, clearly hungry. Kakashi had seen the sandaime, he looked really busy. The council was being reassembled. Such an attack just after the war had been really detrimental for Konoha. He wasn’t sure when the man would be able to meet them. He had looked quite relieved when he heard that Minato sensei’s son was alive and okay with them. Obito looked like he was in a daze. Kakashi had henged the bright red seal on the boy’s stomach to prevent any uproar amongst the medics and nurses. “Say, Kakashi? Sensei won’t be coming back, will be? Or Kushina san? They won’t try to scold us again.” Obito had let out a choked sob. Kakashi had nothing to say, so he let go and cried too. They cried, huddled together for once, acting like the children they were, the sound of their own sobs intermingling with their sensei’s son’s cries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Obito was woken up by a pair of hands shaking him softly. It was Mikan san. “Obito. Let me have a look at the child. His name is Naruto. Kushina told me they would name him that.” Mikan san was crying too. Kushina had been her childhood friend. She wiped off her tears. Naruto had fallen asleep too, having worn himself out with all the crying. “He needs to be fed, Mikan san.” Obito said. “We don’t have anyone available who would feed him, Obito. Even I’m busy, I’ll have to go soon. I can however, do one thing. Aren’t you a recessive omega? I can use a iryou jutsu on you which will allow you to suckle him for a while. This is actually the most feasible option in this situation.” Obito had long since steeled himself for the reality. He would carry out his sensei’s request, no matter what. Kakashi was still sleeping, which showed just how tired he was. So Obito nodded his assent. He made himself comfortable with his back towards Kakashi and got ready to suckle Naruto. As the jutsu took effect, he saw his nipples get rosier and gain more volume. Mikan san continued till there were beads of milk forming on his nipples. “Take your time feeding him. Newborns require a lot of feeding.” It took some time to get Naruto to suckle, but he latched on to it soon after and promptly started suckling. Mikan san left with Obito wondering if this was a twisted form of fulfilling his own dream of having a child.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kakashi woke up to see the sterile white walls of the cabin he was in. He instinctively looked for Obito, the primal part of his mind having imprinted on him in a way. Obito had his back towards him. He peered stealthily from behind his shoulders and promptly reeled back with a blush. Obito was suckling sensei’s son! He had no idea how or why he was doing it, he didn’t want to know either. Obito finished feeding the cub; Kakashi’s subconscious was already referring to him as a cub. “I’m sure there is a concept called personal space and privacy.” He snarked. Kakashi averted his eyes. “Not a word about what you saw to anyone. Okay?” Obito hissed at him. He immediately nodded yes. “Minato sensei and Kushina san named him Naruto. Mikan san told me” he said. Kakashi looked at Naruto, he looked sated and was already half asleep. His face was a perfect mixture of his parents’ faces. The spell was broken when a medic barged into the room. It was Mikan san. “Sandaime sama is ready to see you now.” she said, slipping into her mask of practiced stoicness, but not before smiling at Naruto. Inside the office, the sandaime looked even older than before. His wife, Biwako san, had been rescued from the rubble, unconscious. She was stable now. Being the witness to two shinobi wars and a kyuubi attack had taken its toll on him. However, he looked significantly younger when he saw Naruto. Taking him in his arms, the old man had gazed at him lovingly before cooing at him like a doting grandfather. Handing him back, he had returned to his seat and addressed them, finally. “Minato and Kushina’s will has been found. They have explicitly mentioned both of you as their son’s godparents. I need to know if you two will be able to take care of him. Otherwise I will have to think of other options. Also, I don’t need to tell you that it is an S-class secret that the boy is the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. No one should know of this.” One look at each other and Kakashi and Obito had said yes in unison to taking care of Naruto together. That was one thing done. “As of now, how do you both intend to handle the matter because both the hair and those whisker marks will garner attention.” said the sandaime. “We can add his name to the Hatake family register and I can pass off those marks as latent clan markings. Few of my ancestors had similar marks on their faces.” Kakashi said. Obito liked the idea. “It would be better for you to move into Kakashi’s apartment then. I also have a better idea, I can have Kakashi reopen his original clan lands and you two could move in together with Naruto. No one will question you then.” The sandaime looked satisfied with this arrangement. It was going to be tough for both of them. Taking care of a child was no joke. But they would have to, and they would, for each other’s sake and Naruto’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will deal with our couple's emotions. Get ready for some backstories and trauma, oh the angst! Ps. You guys can email me to this email address: bonnysneha7@gmail.com if you want to provide me with further ideas I could use or ways to improve my writing. I'll request for a beta after a few more chapters.


	3. Extra: Omegaverse AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoa! So many hits and Kudos. I love you guys. The angsty chapter is in progress, I will try to update it the coming week. Meanwhile, have a look at this chapter to understand the story better.

This is to give you all a general idea about the omegaverse au I’m using for this fanfiction.

  * There are three secondary genders: Alpha, beta and omega.
  * Social hierarchy is not determined by one’s secondary gender. An omega or beta can also be the head of a family, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an alpha. (There is an exception, which you guys will see later.)
  * Alphas don’t have ruts, nor do omegas have heats.
  * Omegas have a fertile period every month when they are more susceptible to pregnancy. It is a lot like the human menstrual cycle.
  * All three secondary genders can release pheromones. Pheromones are merely used to convey baser emotions without speech.
  * All three secondary genders can get pregnant. They need to be the receiver in the relationship to get pregnant. An alpha can impregnate a fellow alpha, beta or omega. A beta can get another beta or omega pregnant. An omega cannot impregnate anyone however.
  * All omegas, regardless of gender, have a functional uterus, vagina and vulva. Omegan males are not intersex, they do not have a penis.
  * Alpha and beta males who get pregnant develop a birthing canal over the course of pregnancy which ceases to exist after giving birth. It is not an issue for the females as they have the required parts by virtue of their primary gender.
  * Many of the readers of the story must have read the omegaverse explanations in conventional omegaverse mangas. There, hierarchy was demonstrated using honeybees. Here I am using a different approach using bees as an example. The queen bee is capable of releasing pheromones which suppress reproductive development in worker bees, rendering them sterile, essentially preventing any competition. What I am aiming to explain is not the same thing but a similar process. This information pertains to alpha and beta females who do not have penises at birth. However, on being exposed to pheromones of a person who is submissive in nature in comparison to them will lead them to develop a temporary penis through enlargement of the clitoris, provided there is at all the intention to mate.
  * There are scent glands on the neck of every individual which when bitten by the dominant partner makes them mates.
  * Currently the characters who are alphas are Kakashi Hatake, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Shikaku Nara, Itachi and Sasuke Uchiha, and Shikamaru Nara.
  * Currently the characters who are betas are Mikoto Uchiha, Minato Namikaze, Kushina Uzumaki and Biwako Sarutobi.
  * Currently the characters who are omegas are Obito Uchiha (recessive), Fugaku Uchiha, Mikan Kitashirakawa and Naruto Uzumaki.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to mention one thing, gender doesn't matter if you want to get someone pregnant, if that person is biologically capable, then the intent and actions will be enough. It is up to you guys now, interpret it in the way you want. This is just a heads up to avoid anymore confusion. If you want to ask me something or send advice, feel free to mail me at bonnysneha7@gmail.com


	4. The World Is Left In Decay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is angst (or a very pathetic attempt at writing it), with smidgens of back stories, and our lead couple being soft bois after almost angsting themselves to oblivion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is very hard to put into words just how grateful I am with the number of hits and kudos. Real life got to me badly. Everyday had become a test of patience and sanity. Writing is my only reprieve. Thank you for listening to my rant.

The first few weeks with Naruto was spent in Kakashi’s apartment. The hokage had already sanctioned the reopening of the Hatake clan lands, but the required documents would take some time to arrive, hence the current arrangement. Not that Obito was complaining, he did not have the time to. As an active chuunin, he was also required to aid the village in rebuilding its infrastructure from scratch. Having a new born in his care did not make it easy. Kakashi tried his best to help whenever he could; he was busier than Obito. The sandaime had too much on his hands to even remember granting them temporary leave from duty. Naruto wasn’t the calmest child either. He cried when he was hungry, sleepy or had soiled himself. They had to take turns holding him till he fell asleep. Obito had to inject himself with a cocktail of hormones and medicines to stimulate lactation, a jutsu could only do so much, and Naruto drank a lot of milk. A LOT. Being shinobi themselves, they were long accustomed to spending days with little to no sleep. But spending a three weeks like that had taken its toll on both of them. Both of them were tired, cranky and constantly getting into fights with each other. All hell broke loose one day. It was a humid day, the sky overcast with clouds which rumbled the whole morning. It hadn’t rained yet, and everyone was going crazy with the heat and humidity. Naruto had started crying very early in the morning and no amount of cuddles or feeding could stop it. Both Kakashi and Obito were at their wits’ end. “Naruto, little one. Please stop crying.” Obito implored. Kakashi had tried using a diagnostic seal on Naruto, even that had turned out normal. Obito did not know what to do. “Keep your pleas to yourself. None of that is going to help us.” He froze at the sheer amount of barely suppressed rage in Kakashi’s voice. The room was instantly saturated with aggressive pheromones from Kakashi. It made Obito want to vomit. “Stop it Kakashi! Agitation won’t help us here. Stop stomping around like a raging bull and help me!” Obito too lost his temper. “Are you trying to imply that I don’t contribute or help you enough?” Kakashi loomed over him, hackles raised. “I never said that. Stop blaming me for your own incompetence!” the air in the room was soured with their pheromones. Soon Naruto’s crying was drowned in the sounds of their own squabbling, which gradually grew in volume till the amount of killer intent in there was stifling. Both were ready to turn the altercation physical, their primal parts in control, amidst Naruto’s ceaseless crying. The sound of the door being broken down brought them back to their senses. Rushing to the door, they saw Mikan san standing there. “Care to tell me what you both are doing?” her voice was cold. She rushed to the crib Naruto was in, not waiting for an explanation. Obito felt like someone had dumped cold water on him. He ran into the bathroom, braced against the door, he tried his best to stop the tears from coming. What was he doing? It was his sensei’s son, the one he had taken responsibility for. A moment of losing his grip on his emotions had made him blind to a child’s plight. He couldn’t forgive himself. Was he turning into that same person he hated? Back in the room, Kakashi stood still as a statue, trying to comprehend the situation. He had been too caught up on the situation and almost jeopardized the fragile relationship building up with Obito. Maintaining it was imperative to Naruto’s well being. He couldn’t describe just how ashamed he was. Would he be able to look Obito in the eye after this? A hand on his shoulder jolted him back to reality. Mikan san steered him into the kitchen. She had opened all the windows of the rooms. “Let out all this stench of pheromones. It will rain soon. That fresh air will do you both wonders.” Obito was sitting at the table, nursing a mug of tea. His eyes were red, was he crying? Something inside him broke at the sight. He wanted to bundle him up in his arms and cuddle till he became happy again. Kakashi had never had such thoughts before, it scared him. “Now, I want both of you to sort out your differences as normally as possible. Feel free to decimate the training grounds if you want. I doubt there will be anyone there today. When you’re done, take a look at the leaflets I am leaving here about infants and parents, you two will need it. Obito, Kakashi. I know this is hard; it would have been surprising if it wasn’t. You aren’t supposed to shoulder all this alone. Know this that there are people who are always going to help you and be behind you always, which includes me. I am going to take Naruto home with me; he will stay with me till you guys sort it all out. Don’t worry; I took permission from the sandaime. He will be okay.” Mikan san got up with Naruto, he had fallen asleep. “And by the way, Kakashi, diagnostic seals are used to detect chakra abnormalities. It won’t work for something as simple as infant colic. You will find me in the Nara compound if I’m not there at the hospital. Take care, you two.” She left.

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Hiruzen Sarutobi was an old man. He had seen two shinobi wars, the death of three hokages and a tailed beast attack most recently. When a separate will bearing only Kushina Uzumaki’s name was discovered, he wasn’t surprised. Kushina was a strong-willed and stubborn woman, and those she loved, she loved from the bottom of his heart; as for those she hated, God save them. He still remembered when those two entered the village for the first time, the red haired, fair girl with an angry expression and the black haired, dark girl, face impassive. The only thing that gave away their fear and sadness was the dried tear tracks on their faces, which shined when light fell on them in a particular way. Kushina Uzumaki and Mikan Kitashirakawa, genin. Mikan’s name in Uzushiogakure was Michi Kaneki; she had changed her name when she became a genin. Kushina was fiercely protective of her, and wouldn’t let him ask why she had changed her name. She relented only when Mikan asked her to. She told him that the matron of the orphanage in Uzushio named children by taking names from graves, and she didn’t like it, so she changed it. This name was added to her shinobi ID of Konoha, along with a new registration number. Kushina’s explosive temper and behavior made her famous, both in the academy and on the battlefield. However, Mikan was an all-rounded person. Perfect records everywhere, be it the academy, the battlefield or the hospital. She and Kushina remained stuck to the hip till Kushina’s death. He wouldn’t ever forget Mikan’s expression when Kushina’s body was moved to the morgue. Kushina’s will explicitly mentioned Mikan Kitashirakawa as Naruto’s godmother and eligible to take care of him other than Kakashi and Obito. He knew Obito and Kakashi had some major issues in their relationship that they would need to figure out when taking care of Naruto. So he did everything he could do to stay out of the way of those three. Kushina’s life had been oddly straight, in a way. Any person could smell the chemistry between her and Minato. Even her character was naturally straightforward. Mikan, however was a different issue. She was a person with layers on her character. It was hard to figure what went on inside her mind. She became a jounin before Minato or Kushina, her analytical mind and sharp intellect on par with Shikaku Nara, the jounin commander, along with the proper physical prowess required for her job. She joined the ANBU as a field medic, not a single casualty in any of her teams during her stint. Even after leaving it, the head of the ANBU medic corps came to complain that none of the squad members ever came for any treatment, going to the hospital to get themselves treated by Kitashirakawa. Even all the jounin went to her; it escalated to the point where Shikaku asked him to consider asking her to join the forces again. He wondered how the distinguished families with kekkei-genkais would react if they ever heard of her kekkei-genkai. He was really surprised when Shikaku’s father had come to him requesting Mikan’s hand for his son. This was the reason why Shikaku had been pointedly avoiding the hospital for a few weeks. Hiruzen couldn’t fathom why the Nara elder, who was a master of avoiding situations which he deemed too troublesome, would willingly make a request like this. The man was well aware that the other families would talk if this decision were revealed to them. He had simply replied that he wouldn’t mind enduring troublesome people and events if that meant another life would be saved. His words were soon proved right when Biwako came hurtling into his office a few hours later, Mikan’s kekkei-genkai was a very important one, in the wrong hands, it could very well spell doom for them. Extensive use of her ability during battle and healing shinobi was taking its toll on her mental health, and she needed immediate therapy, mostly in the form of familial affection and contact. Mikan was a strong person, but she was already teetering on the edge. She had no family barring Kushina, and the latter could only do so much. The best option at this point was marriage, and Shikaku was by far the best and most sane candidate for that among shinobi. He admired Shikaku’s father’s foresight. The Nara truly was very intelligent and intuitive. It took a few tries. The first time they were literally thrown out of her office with the question if they had even asked Shikaku about this and his choice. The second time they willingly left as the amount of killing intent emanating from her was concerning. Finally they were able to convince her to at least meet him. Three months later, Shikaku and Mikan were married with Hiruzen acting as her official guardian. Kushina was so happy that Minato actually had to restrain her from shouting it from the top of the hokage mountain. Shikaku’s father passed away peacefully in his sleep months later, the same time when Mikan got pregnant with Shikamaru. Quite a few months later, He had been shaken awake by Biwako one night, “Mikan is in labor, the child will be born soon. I am going to help.” She had told him. Shikaku, Kushina, Minato and many other jounin were at the border, away from the village. That same night, a group of Iwa shinobi attacked their village, taking advantage of the absence of a few shinobi. A grave mistake on their part, Hiruzen and his ANBU guards had been more than enough to hold them off and kill them one by one. He raced towards the Nara compound as there was no saying that the enemy shinobi wouldn’t ambush the people there. If they were aware of Konoha jounin being away, they could very well be know of any births occurring. Killing one child with a kekkei-genkai would mean one less member of that clan, a single such person could make all the difference in this war. The main house contained many injured Nara shinobi and the bodies of few other Iwa shinobi. No one was dead or gravely injured though. Shikaku’s sister, Shikako ran towards him. “Mikan is in the forest, we had her moved as soon we sensed enemy shinobi on the way. Biwako san is with her.” A huge sound drew their eyes to the Nara forest, the oldest, tallest trees in the forest were bending and more trees were sprouting up from nowhere and this continued till the trees had formed a dome like structure which virtually allowed no entry from above. No jutsu could penetrate it. As he prepared to walk into the forest, animals started spilling out. Birds, insects and deer, especially stags with antlers sharp enough to pierce through standard shinobi armor and disembowel. The stags formed a protective ring around the forest boundary and attacked anyone who tried to enter. “It won’t work.” It was Shikako. “The Nara forest is sentient, it was gifted to the clan by shodai sama when we first joined the village. The forest and its occupants won’t tolerate any harm towards those related to it. We have no choice but to wait.” They spent an agonizing hour outside the forest. The forest had become so dense and thrumming with ambient nature chakra that it was impossible to feel any other chakra signature. It was a night in name only, the animals of the forest were so restless, the birds chirping, insects flying around and the deer standing guard that it felt like day. Suddenly all activity stopped, everything became so silent for a moment that Hiruzen feared the worst. At that moment, the silence was shattered with the piercing cry of a newborn. Hiruzen sat down with a sigh, such excitement was not good for him. In front of his eyes, the trees returned to normal and the stags guarding the forest parted and they shinobi entourage walked towards the site where the others were. Hiruzen and company stumbled into an unforgettable scene. Mikan was resting against a tree, Biwako at her side, holding her newborn. All the deer in the Nara forest were surrounding them in a circle with their heads bowed. It was like they were welcoming the arrival of a king. Biwako looked at him and smiled, “It’s a boy!” The Nara clansmen, while not very exuberant by nature, burst into cheers. Amongst all this chaos, the newborn had fallen back asleep in his mother’s arms after a brief period of crying. “He’s a Nara, through and through.” He said fondly, one of his hands on Shikamaru’s head. “You are going to be strong aren’t you little one? You have my blessing…” “Shikamaru. Shikaku and I had already chosen names.” Mikan said. “Okay, Shikamaru Nara, you have my blessing. Grow into a strong shinobi and protect your family and village!” Shikamaru’s birth was one of the first ones in this year. Such a birth during a war, coupled with auspicious omens had strengthened the villagers’ will to fight and put the war behind. Yet a lot of it had come to a standstill with Naruto’s birth and the subsequent Kyuubi attack the very next month. He sighed, there was no helping it. However, it was a relief that Naruto was being taken care by Kakashi and Obito; he really hadn’t wanted to send him to an orphanage. While Kakashi and Obito were a volatile combination, they had Mikan and therefore Shikaku behind them, so it wasn’t a concerning matter now. He only hoped the training fields would stand the brunt of their combined powers. Mikan had none too gently broken it to him that the pair was leveling their issues on the grounds. Not that he minded, but Kakashi was really strong for his age. And he had recently come to know from one of Minato’s unofficial scrolls that Obito had been suppressing the true extent of his powers. He winced at the sound of a particularly strong crash from one of the training grounds, loud enough to reach the tower, wondering if the grounds would be salvageable the next day.

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Training ground 17 would never be the same again. Its landscape had changed completely. It had not affected the duo fighting there. They razed the land, changing its features with each wave of jutsus. Kakashi’s assessment had turned out to be right. Obito was deliberately keeping his progress from others. Most of Kakashi’s attacks were being countered with jutsus of similar ranks. Obito was quick to adapt, his taijutsu almost at par with him, a flexible mixture of standard Uchiha clan taijutsu and some other style he couldn’t exactly pinpoint. His genjutsus were strong and layered, triggered by the slightest shifts in one’s movement or the surroundings. His ninjutsu, while not as strong as his, was more than adequate, coupled with his taijutsu and genjutsu. Kakashi’s musings were broken with an A rank jutsu being thrown at his way. That was it. He was going to end this fight now, no use dragging it. His chakra reserves had depleted a lot. Obito was staggering too, but he kept attacking like a wounded animal with no sense of self preservation. It had started raining somewhere along the time they fought. He couldn’t even remember how long they had been fighting for. “Are you even aware of your surroundings?!” he narrowly avoided getting hit by a katon. Obito was angry, not the usual kind. It was a different kind of anger, the kind that made you disregard yourself, also managing to thoroughly disturb the other person. “Did your father not teach you that?” Obito hissed out. That was breaking point for Kakashi, his logical side knew that Obito was just riling him up and he himself was hurting, but his animal side had snapped and taken charge. It was the same for Obito as both of them rushed towards each other for an all out battle, reduced to mere animals, gradually losing the reason why they were fighting. Nothing remained, everything else stripped away. The world shrank to just each other for both. There are very few things which happen slowly in the life of a shinobi. They stopped fighting abruptly. Kakashi did not remember what started the fight. He felt like he had spent a month training with Gai without any breaks in between. Obito hadn’t used his chakra with discretion and looked ready to drop there. Kakashi summoned Bull with what little chakra he had and promptly collapsed on him. He faintly remembered being carried back to his apartment along with Obito. He woke up inside the bathroom in a heap with Obito. Not the most ideal place, but Bull knew it would be a pain to clean up all the mud from the floors if he had left them there. The bathroom was better. Kakashi debated if he should shower first or wake up Obito and send him in first. A whimper from the still asleep Obito was all it took for his animal side to resurface. Obito was probably having a bad dream, he smelled distress on him. It hurt him in a way which was crippling. He wanted to stop those whimpers. Nothing else mattered. He bundled him up and entered the shower together. He undressed himself and Obito and washed thoroughly. Barely managing to dress himself and Obito properly, they fell into the lone futon together and fell asleep. Kakashi slept peacefully after a long time, his dreams filled with Obito’s sunny laughter and petrichor and grass smell.

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Obito woke up to all encompassing warmth and the smell of caramel which his grandmother used to make. It took him sometime to figure out where he was and with whom. He extricated himself from Kakashi and his dog pile with a blush, which intensified when Kakashi mumbled sleepily and reached out for him, tucking him into his arms again. He couldn’t explain this situation or his feelings. They were out for each other’s blood some time ago and now they were cuddled together.”Do you want to talk?” Kakashi’s voice made him cringe. “It is okay if you don’t want to. My father always used to say that you could never force some things out of people. You have to wait for them to speak.” “He wasn’t the best father, but he tried a lot to be one. He took a lot of me with him when he died.” Kakashi wasn’t sure of Obito was listening, but it lightened his heart somewhat. “My father hated me.” Obito mumbled, “My mother died giving birth to me. When I started getting stronger, it scared him. He did not want to acknowledge my progress. So I was abused for a long time, till he died. I was sent to my grandmother. She cursed him to suffer in afterlife. It didn’t matter to me then. I vowed to hide my real self after that. I couldn’t bear to think of it anymore.” Obito sobbed into his chest. “You didn’t have to do that. We would have accepted you either way. Sensei and Rin and Kushina san, me. Don’t hide from me anymore, the others are gone.” Kakashi’s statement left him reeling. He couldn’t think of the Kakashi from a few months ago doing that. He wondered what had changed him. They had dinner together that day. They talked about Naruto. They went to sleep together, like it was a very natural thing. Obito wondered where all the awkwardness had gone. If he dreamt of Kakashi that night, he kept it a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter we see baby Naruto chan doing his best to take our ship forward. Also, baby Shikamaru! I think I'll make a sequel for this fanfic where the main ship will be Shikanaru. What do you guys think? Sasunaru is my OTP, but I'm currently going nuts with Shikanaru. Please send help.


	5. I'd Love It If We Made It

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Obito worries, Kakashi falls for him harder. Mikan and the others make a startling discovery which only she is able to make sense of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I could not really deliver what I mentioned in the last chapter. But don't worry, the main couple will make progress soon. Thank you for putting up with me and my inconsistent posting schedules. On another note, you people are the best. This story, as of now, has 60 kudos and 800 plus hits. I should build an altar and worship you all. Never in a million years did I think this would be possible.

Shikaku was a patient man, but he found most things to be a drag. While he tended to avoid troublesome situations and people, according to him, he only nodded to his wife when she came in with Minato’s newborn. “Kakashi and Obito eh?” he said. “Yes. They are figuring out their relationship and other issues. It would be best to keep Naruto with us till they figure it out.” His wife was one of the calmest and least troublesome women he had ever met. He was of the view that women were a troublesome species, but his wife could be an exception. His son was not much of a hassle too. He slept most of the time and only woke up when hungry or needed a diaper change. Shikaku was willing to change diapers if that meant avoiding nagging from his wife because women nagged even more after having children and while his wife wasn’t like most women, it didn’t mean she would not do it later. He was still skeptic. It wasn’t very polite to call Naruto a hell spawn, but he absolutely was one. Very similar to Kushina in nature. Mikan handled the child with practiced patience which had come from dealing with Kushina since her childhood. He wondered if he would ever get back his precious silence again, which had been limited to the times the kid was asleep. Currently, Naruto was snoozing beside his own son Shikamaru, having been fed moments ago. He should get used to this, he thought with a sigh. The sandaime had been talking to him about Obito Uchiha, who was supposedly hiding his progress from others, including his late sensei. He had had minimal interaction with the boy, so he would not be able to find out anything without a proper talk. His wife knew him. His medical records had not shown anything abnormal, barring the eye transplant in place of his own. His psych evaluations were normal. He was saner than most other Uchiha and a bit less of a pyromaniac. There had been considerable outrage in the clan when Kakashi received one of Obito’s eyes; the elders were concerned about the sharingan being in the possession of an outsider. Things were still a mess and a tailed beast attack just after the war had worsened it tenfold. While he was immune to most surprises, he had not been able to control it when he learned of the circumstances surrounding his son’s birth. Countless hours in the Nara family archives and library had revealed nothing which could shed light on this odd phenomenon. It was a troublesome time, he could deduce this much.

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Kakashi and Obito went to the Nara compound two days after their big fight to take Naruto home. Shikaku san was a cool guy, taking the idea of Naruto being with them in stride. The thought of going back to his ancestral home and facing the demons there left him shivering with self-loathing and a crippling cold feeling which wouldn’t leave him and only seemed to become greater with time. Yet, as they walked back to the apartment with Naruto in Obito’s arms, Kakashi could not help but acknowledge the warmth spreading in his chest at the sight of Obito cooing at Naruto. It drove away all that cold dread for the time being. Obito was not sure how Mikoto and Fugaku would take the news. He had not gotten the chance to speak to either of them following the Kyuubi attack. Both of them were busy helping the clan to rebuild the homes and other miscellaneous buildings of the compound. The clan elders had raised a lot of objections regarding the eye he gave to Kakashi, and Mikoto had to go through a lot of trouble to resolve the issue. Many did not acknowledge Mikoto as the clan head even when she had proved her worth more than once, just because she was a woman, and a beta. Most of the elders were prudes with no regard for women and other secondary genders barring alphas. He had been allowed into the academy only after receiving permission from the elders as he was a recessive omega. While most branch family omegas were allowed to pursue the shinobi lifestyle, there had been a significant decline in the number of members during the war, so the clan elders were now calling omegas from branch families to marry into the main family and have children. Obito was not a top choice, but he knew that he could be called someday to fulfill his “duty” as an omega. A detour to the Uchiha compound had taken care of the Naruto issue. Though apprehensive at first, Fugaku, Mikoto and Itachi had welcomed Naruto with open arms. Mikoto could not keep the promise of protecting Obito if he was called by the elders, but she promised to keep the matter under wraps as long as possible. Fugaku was happy to have Naruto as a future playmate for Sasuke. Lastly, in a manner completely unexpected of him, he had winked at Obito and asked him to inform him first when he got mated to Kakashi. Obito had not considered this possibility, he thanked the gods that he had sent Kakashi to the market and come here with Naruto. On his way back, he bumped into Kurenai and Anko of all people. After gushing over Naruto, they proceeded to thoroughly question him regarding his responsibility for Naruto. To their credit, none of them batted an eyelid when he told them about Naruto’s parentage and circumstances. He couldn’t keep it a secret from everyone. In order to ensure a smooth life for Naruto, some people needed to know of his secret. That is when he came up with the idea of asking them for a favor. The Hatake compound would need a thorough cleaning before they moved in, and he could ask them to help with the promise of babysitting privileges for Naruto, as well as entry and food when required. He knew very well just how much his batch mates loved free food and places to crash. He was sure Kakashi wouldn’t mind. But he was not so sure if anyone would want to babysit Naruto again after experiencing it once. Anko had wisely declined that offer; Kurenai did not know what she was asking for. He was sure that the girls would involve Asuma, Raidou, Genma, Aoba and others in this. Another job done, he went back to his own apartment to pick up more clothes before going to Kakashi’s. Pakkun was checking the shopping list with the items Kakashi had brought. The enoki mushrooms were missing. “There were no enoki mushrooms in any of the shops I asked.” Kakashi said sheepishly. “I’m pretty sure I saw enoki mushrooms when passing through the market with Naruto. I don’t want to hear any excuses, just because you do not like enoki does not mean I will not eat it. This is partly the reason why you were so short back then! Leave it, I’ll go to the market and buy it myself.” Obito stormed out of his apartment. Kakashi was left standing in the kitchen, an awake Naruto gurgling in his arms. “Boss. You’re absolutely smitten.” furiously blushing at Pakkun’s remark, Kakashi snapped at him. “Mind your own business! Oh god. Am I a masochist?”

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“Yes. I don’t see any reason as to why we should not help. Spring cleaning is an awful tough job, especially for a big clan house which has not seen light for almost ten years. But nothing can be tougher than the fact that those two are looking after a child!” Asuma said after Anko and Kurenai were done with their part. “Those two can barely look after themselves. I wonder how they can take care of an infant.” Hayate commented with a cough. “But they are taking care of the kid, and he was not distressed as such kids often are.” Kurenai shot back, Aoba and Anko nodding their assent. Genma too couldn’t help but agree, both Obito and Kakashi were messes in their own way, but they were doing a good job of taking care of the yondaime’s child. He had seen cases worse than this. Kurenai would have said more, but Anko interrupted, “So. Are we going to help Obito clean up the Hatake clan compound or not?” “I don’t see any objections. So I guess we’re going.” Asuma shrugged. A few days later, Kakashi almost had a heart attack when he came back to his apartment from the market to see it completely bare. All his possessions, even the lone cup in his kitchen he used for himself, were gone. Obito and Naruto were nowhere to be seen. He hurriedly summoned Pakkun. Pakkun had to smack him to stop him from being reduced to a panicking heap on the floor. “The cub and Obito are at your old home. I can smell some of your friends here, I’m sure they took all your belongings there. Come on, Boss. Let’s go.” For all his photographic memory was worth, he had trouble recognizing his own house when he arrived there. Most of the things from his apartment were there, he was nudged out of the way by Asuma and Genma, who were bringing in his only cupboard which contained almost everything, right from spare clothes and ANBU armor to diapers and medicines. “Hey Kakashi! Look what we did. It was all Obito’s idea though.” Anko hollered at him. “Yeah, you should thank him. He took this initiative alone while caring for Naruto. And I don’t want any complaints from him regarding you.” Kurenai’s sweet smile had morphed into a Hannya’s growling face. Kakashi shivered, she was getting really good at genjutsu. “What’s with that dumbstruck look on your face? We are doing this for you, the least you can do is smile. Or are you too busy mooning at Obito?” Genma could not complete his smirk when his face was doused into the dirty water from cleaning the doors. Anything to have him stop talking, Kakashi thought. Said person was cleaning the doors of the Master bedroom at the middle of the corridor, he could see him from the engawa before the corridor. That room had been Kakashi’s; before he stripped it of everything it had and moved out of it into his apartment. Naruto was on the crib that Mikan san had bought for him, sated and gurgling. He seemed to be in a good mood, which usually happened after being fed. He wondered if the others had seen Obito suckle Naruto. He was not old enough to be weaned off breast milk. Kakashi admitted to himself that he had made a mistake when judging Obito’s character, the amount of courage, determination and sense of responsibility required to handle Naruto was not a trifle. And Obito was taking it in stride, and doing pretty well, better than him anyway. He had avoided a lot of things for a lot of time. Obito came to Naruto and hoisted him up, he gurgled happily. “Bakashi! You’re here finally. I asked the gang to help me clean up. I hope you don’t mind. They’ll be here for lunch.” He had crossed the room in long strides before his mind had even processed everything properly. “Then the least I can do is hold Naruto for you.” Obito’s surprise was evident. “Maa. I’m not that lazy.” He finally said. “Fine. Let me check on the rice and curry. It should be done by now. It’s a good thing I came here earlier to make the kitchen usable. We are having curry, tonjiru and karaage.” The cheer Genma let out was infectious. Obito’s questioning glance was not lost on him when he pulled down his mask and burned this memory in his mind. That night, they put their futons in Kakashi’s room, Naruto’s crib in the middle. Obito’s face had an odd kind of grace, he observed. He had not noticed it before. Silently, he swore to protect his family, for lack of a better word; Obito and Naruto. Earlier, he had pretended to not notice when Genma, Kurenai and the others had whispered among themselves just how much they looked like a family.

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(Time skip: approximately three years)

Naruto was a fast learner, he started crawling at five months and walking at seven. His rambunctious nature and aptitude towards pranks never gave Obito or Kakashi a moment of peace, except when he would be at the Nara’s with Shikamaru. Kakashi became busy with the ANBU as Konoha started getting back on its feet after the Kyuubi attack. It took a lot of convincing for the sandaime to let Obito remain as a chuunin. The man had arrived unannounced one day and took him to a secluded training ground to spar with Mikan. He had to literally give it his all. His carefully built façade was falling apart. The sandaime, Shikaku san and Mikan san had deemed him eligible for a jounin rank. While he had skipped the jounin rank for the time being, the sandaime had asked him to help train a kid orphaned in the Kyuubi attack, for his chuunin examinations. His name was Umino Iruka; the kid was a fast learner and managed to pass the exams which were held in kumo. So now he had no more obligations and he still did missions, but there were constant reminders from the sandaime that once Naruto came of age, he would be promoted to jounin rank. The gang threw him a birthday party at yakiniku Q last week. They had done the same for Kakashi a few months before. He was eighteen now. Obito had stopped going to his apartment, which now remained under lock and key. He practically lived in the Hatake clan compound with Kakashi and Naruto. A few Uchiha elders had raised objections when Obito started looking after Naruto, but that did not gain much momentum and was soon dropped. However, the clan was none too subtly pushing him to move out now, while Obito’s father was a branch family member, his grandmother had been a part of the main family. The clan elders wanted Obito to get mated and bear children for the clan. Many of them had raised concerns about an unmated alpha and omega staying together with a child, which was not even their own. Kakashi had been absent when this happened, he would have to know. The sandaime as well as Mikoto were doing their best to quell this. But Obito wasn’t sure how long this would last.

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Mikan was a sensor, a very good one. So she was invaluable to the village. And she had no idea what to say when she came back from a diplomatic mission in kumo to see the Nara compound a mess. In the middle of all this were Obito, Shikaku and Kakashi. Obito looked like he would burst into tears anytime, Kakashi looked paler than usual and Shikaku looked constipated, for lack of a better word. Long story short, Shikamaru and Naruto were playing together in the main house, Shikaku was watching over them. He had fallen asleep, and woke up to find them missing. And now they were having a really hard time finding them both. Thorough checks of the compound and other possible places where they could be in the village had revealed nothing. Many Nara clansmen were looking in the Nara forest now. Mikan being here made things easier. She led them in deeper into the forest, far deeper than even the places where the does went to give birth. She could clearly detect their chakra signatures, Naruto’s unstable, fickle chakra, like a mini whirlpool; and Shikamaru’s calm, lazy one, but with an edge. She could not see them anywhere however, the area was an opening free of trees but the surrounding forest just got denser here, dense enough so that sunlight could not enter. She finally resorted to using her own voice, a few loud calls later her eyes immediately darted up to a particularly dark corner of a cluster of ancient, tall bodhi trees. Something was moving up there, hidden among the leaves and hanging roots. “Naruto, Shikamaru are you two up there? Come down please honey, we are not angry.” She called out. How could two little boys have climbed a tree that high? She couldn’t even see them carefully. They weren’t able to properly mould chakra yet. Her question was answered with a tiny squeak and suddenly a ball of orange came out hurtling from the darkness and almost fell off the branches but suddenly got stuck few meters above the ground. It was neither Naruto nor Shikamaru but a fox kit, with beautiful blue eyes; it seemed to be hanging from its shadow, which extended back to the dark corner on the tree. Moments later, there was a low purr and what looked like a black cat came sauntering out of the shadows, lazily walking on the branch. Except that it wasn’t one, it was a juvenile panther, not an adult, completely black in color. Its eyes were an acid green which peered into your soul. Mikan’s thoughts wandered back to a memory; a memory of being confronted by a black panther in the mostly unexplored forests of Uzushio when she was a child. A black panther, and behind it had stood a fox with fur a flaming orange. It had just observed her with interest, while the fox had nudged her towards the correct direction out of the forest. It seemed that the panther was somehow responsible for the fox hanging from its shadow. It nimbly climbed down from the tree; the fox let out a yip, disengaged from its shadow and jumped to the ground. She stood there, transfixed as the fox bounded towards Obito and climbed on his shoulders while the panther made his way towards her and brushed itself at her feet, letting out pleased purrs. Shikaku looked wary and curious while Kakashi looked almost ready to strike.”Naruto?” Obito called out shakily once more, the fox kit nuzzled at him and let out a happy yip. He looked positively hysterical now. Suddenly, Mikan remembered an old story which grandmother Nika would tell them at the orphanage every Sunday. A story of how Uzushio came into being. “In the beginning there was nothing, no land, air or water. Only chaos existed; a manifestation of energy. A long time later, it condensed into two parts, one was an epitome of activeness and action: Yang and the other personified calmness and thinking: Yin. Gradually these two parts manifested themselves as animals, Yang as a primordial fox and Yin as a panther. They roamed the universe together and finally settled down one day. The fox disintegrated into the seas surrounding us, true to its nature, always active, making waves. While the panther, its counterpart lay down to sleep and transformed itself into a landmass, not as vast as the sea, but with roots so deep you won’t be able to find its end under the sea. This landmass is our homeland, our Uzushio. We would have roamed like nomads if not for it, therefore, make sure you cherish her.” She would also talk about Uzushio not being the same it was before. She told them about a prophecy their ancestors had made, the first settlers in Uzushio. The prophecy was that of the reemergence of the fox and the panther in two individuals, who would restore Uzushio to her former glory. Things just got clearer as well as more complicated. “Shikamaru. Can you change back please? Naruto too.” Shikaku and Kakashi looked at her, shocked. In front of their eyes, the fox and the panther transformed back into two very naked young boys: Naruto and Shikamaru. “Shifters.” She told them simply. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Shikaku’s words summarized their expressions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added a few more points to my omegaverse extra, chapter 3. Please do read it again for more clarifications and confusion solving when you will read more chapters. I will keep on adding characters to the secondary genders in time. As of yet, I have not decided what the secondary genders of the others not mentioned will be. Thank you once again to those who read, comment and give kudos.


	6. The War Has Been Incited And Guess What You're All Invited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! The kids are shifters. Bad men give Naruto an owie. Obito and Kakashi go apeshit over it. Kakashi finally gets to mate Obito. Konoha witnesses a simple marriage with biblical implications.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am grateful to those who read my story, bookmarked it and gave kudos. I am sorry this chapter is so late. I had about four to five entrances in the last few weeks. My brain went offline when I came home after giving the last entrance yesterday. Otherwise I would have posted this one yesterday. As an apology, enjoy this long chapter.

The third hokage was blessed with distinct foresight. He got it from aptitude and experience in his long career as an active shinobi, later as the hokage. Yet he was not prepared for the recent events. It was absolutely unforeseen and baffling. Shikaku had taken a few minutes to digest what had happened in front of him. Both Kakashi and Obito had been stunned to silence. And he was still processing it all when he walked into the hokage’s office with his son in his arms. Mikan was carrying Naruto because Obito was too shaken and Kakashi was calming him. The hokage was doing paperwork and raised his eyebrows at the group. “So I take it that something really odd must have happened for the jounin commander, head medic, one of our top jounins and a seemingly underdog nin to be here together. With the kids.” He couldn’t help but notice that the kids, covered with blankets, were naked beneath. He saw various degrees of bafflement on everyone face except Mikan, whose expression was the calmest. Naruto was chewing the edge of his blanket and watching his toes wriggling with all the curiosity of a young one and Shikamaru was, well, asleep. “Mikan, I think you should explain.” Shikaku said finally. “I think sandaime sama should see it first. Then I can explain.” She nudged Shikamaru awake while Obito coaxed Naruto and in front of his eyes, the two children morphed into a fairly big black cat and a fox kit. “Is that? Oh, a black panther. I haven’t seen one in a long time. And a fox kit. How fitting.” He managed to say after they changed back a few minutes later. “Why don’t you take the kids to Biwako, Obito? I’ll send her a message. I don’t see anything wrong at a glance. But you should get them checked. Kakashi, go with him. Shikaku, as my advisor, ask my secretary to schedule a meeting for all the clan heads this evening. No exceptions.” “Hai hokage sama.” Shikaku walked out. “Bat, horse, owl, leave us and make sure the surroundings are secure and no one comes in. Nothing leaves this room.” As the room emptied, Sarutobi looked at her. His gaze spoke volumes. Just like it did after news of the destruction of Uzushio. “This is something that I never thought would happen. But it is happening Mikan. And now it is time to tie all the loose ends.” “I agree, hokage sama. This was long overdue.” “As Tobirama sensei’s student, I got a lot of information regarding Uzushio and even went there once. Black panthers were endemic to it. It was also there where I first saw foxes with such vibrant colors. Not like the ones in earth country. And then sensei showed to me the prophecy. Forgive me for not coming clean to you regarding its existence. But it was necessary.” “So the prophecy exists!” Mikan took a sharp breath. “It does. And if its saying is finally coming true, then we will have to prepare for similar reports of the kids in your son’s generation shifting into animals. Mikan, I also wanted to talk to you regarding Obito. Have you seen any marked changes in him lately?” “I wanted to tell you about the same thing, hokage sama. In his recent spars he’s beginning to show more taijutsu moves which match with the ones which were practiced in Uzushio. I have noticed that those moves are really polished but he keeps performing them unconsciously. It’s like a reflex for him. Each move was flawless and executed with such precision that you would feel as if Obito were a master practitioner of this form with near perfect muscle memory. But it makes no sense, because as far as my memory goes, he has never been to Uzushio. I’m not certain what this entails. However, it could involve the sharingan because I have never heard Kushina mention anything about this, and she had seen him fight too. Kakashi swore that Obito woke his sharingan when he almost got crushed by rock boulders at the Kannabi Bridge, not before that, and I fought him after this whole incident. I whole-heartedly believe this has something to do with his sharingan.” Hiruzen let out a sigh. “Things are getting incredibly complicated, Mikan. What you just said, could change a lot of things. Konoha could not make it in time to help Uzushiogakure. Believe me, when we managed to reach our port, it was virtually impossible to cross the sea. It was as if it was physically trying to hinder us from going to Uzushio. It gave rise to a storm which lasted for a few days. We haven’t been able to access the island since then. Why, you will see it when you go there. I think it is high time that Obito learns about our observations. You could go to Uzushio and take him along; I have a feeling that you two will be able to enter it unhindered.” “Hokage sama, I am still not sure how to approach Obito about the matter. However tough he tries to show himself as; he is a sensitive person at heart. I don’t want to hurt him.” Mikan looked unsure; Hiruzen had not seen her look this vulnerable except after hearing of Uzushiogakure and Kushina’s death. Both of these topics were sensitive for her. “We are human. And we make mistakes, miscalculations, misunderstandings. It is also us who make things better or worse. Sometimes we need to make a leap of faith, even if we don’t want to. I will tell you one thing. If this does not come out how you want it to, you have us, people you can fall back on. So does Obito, but he is still not sure. You need to convince him. I cannot ask this from Kakashi, he is just as confused as Obito. You and only you can do this.” Mikan’s conviction was visible on her face. “It will be done Hokage sama.” As the silencing seals were taken off, they could hear something outside the office. Both of them came out of the office to see a very worried Chouza Akimichi and a handful of ANBU as well as office staff trying to keep him from barging into the office. Before Hiruzen could say something, Chouza spoke, “Hokage sama, I can’t find my son anywhere! I have personally looked everywhere he could be, the other clan members are searching in other places as I speak. Mikan, you are here too! Please find my son!” he looked close to tears. “Chouza san, please calm down. I’m sure we will find him.” Mikan said. “Could you take me where he was last seen?” “Oh dear, I should go too.” Hiruzen said. As they shunshined out of the office, Chouza took them towards the Yamanaka main house. As they neared it, they could hear a commotion. Something was wrong there too. It seemed to be coming from inside. They rushed in, only to see a hysterical Inoichi and his distraught wife, who were imploring their daughter to run out of the room. The three year old in question was pouting, snuggled between a black panther and what looked like a mountain bear cub. “So he came here.” Startled, she looked beside her to see Shikaku. “Took my eyes off him a moment and he bound off. Figures I would find him here. I guess that mountain bear is Chouji.” “It’s him. No doubt about that.” It took some time for the Yamanaka and Akimichi clan heads to wrap their heads around the situation. They did not dare question it though. They knew not to question Mikan, having learnt it the hard way. After a lot of coaxing from the parents as well as Ino, who had shifted into a leopard halfway through, all of them morphed back into the little kids they were. Inoichi had had the shock of his life before, when Ino had refused to move away from the black panther and bear. Notwithstanding his pleas, she had told him, “Papa, you silly! It’s Shikamaru and Chouji.” Of course he had not believed her then. The matter had now become something else entirely. He had never been more alarmed. Even Shikaku was showing signs of stress. Only Mikan remained calm and cool throughout it all. She was kind of their anchor. He could only wonder what the Uchiha and Hatake kid were going through, if they could even be called kids now. While they were plenty young, war had made adults of them a long time ago.

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Kakashi was getting ready to wake Naruto from his afternoon nap when he heard the main door being slid open. “Is anyone there?” the voice did not belong to any of his friends. “Coming.” He made his way towards to the front, armed, only to see Uchiha Mikoto in all her glory with her younger son on her hips. “Uchiha san, please come in, Obito is not here. What can I do for you?” “Thank you Hatake san.” She set Sasuke down and helped him slide off his shoes. “Please call me Kakashi. Sasuke kun, Naruto is till sleeping, mind waking him up for me?” the boy instantly brightened. According to Obito, he and Naruto had become very good friends over a short period of time. “Kakashi san, it is you I want to talk to. It will take some time for Obito to come; he is at the hokage’s office. It is best in both of your best interests that I have personally come to tell you this. When Obito comes back, he might try to tell you this, if not, then please try to pry it out from him. It is important for the three of you. But I believe that you need to have an idea about this situation beforehand.” Kakashi had had a feeling that it was going to be something related to Obito. He was not entirely sure, but he had an idea as to what it could be about. The resentment of the Uchiha elders regarding their living arrangements was not exactly subtle. They had even tracked him down on one occasion and tried to make him leave Obito. He had told them no in their faces. “I understand.” Nodding at that, Mikoto continued, “I will not beat around the bush. Obito is being pressurized by the elders to marry and bear children for the family. They already have a grudge on both of you regarding the sharingan you have and they don’t miss a chance to harass Obito about it every time. This time things have come to a head. The elders have given him an ultimatum to either leave you and Naruto to marry into the clan or leave the clan. Now, before any questions, let me tell you one thing. I have no doubt that Obito will leave the clan and stay with you two, but the head of the elders who came to this decision, Shujiro san, is a very crooked man. I’m sure he will find a less than honorable, absolutely underhanded way to turn things around so as to force Obito to return to the family. While I have no doubts that you are capable enough to fend off most problems in your way, Naruto is but a child, and Shujiro san will go for him if he cannot target you. You may not show it, but you love the child as much as Obito does. As the clan head, my hands are tied in this matter and so is the hokage’s, in a way. Also, Obito is my only remaining cousin from my mother’s side, the rest are all dead. He deserves all of your love and attention. Don’t let him down.” Kakashi’s face showed no emotion, were his feelings for Obito that apparent? His face had already hardened at the thought of Obito being taken away like that or Naruto getting hurt. “I will do my utmost to see nothing such happens. Does hokage sama know of this?” “Yes he does. In fact I am due for a meeting with him now. Do you mind if I leave Sasuke here? I will take all responsibility in case there is any damage. Itachi transformed into a clouded leopard yesterday, and Sasuke, ever-admirer of his brother, managed to transform too. But he is not yet used to it, so he often causes accidental damage.” “Of course not, Naruto will be very happy. We have been having similar problems; Itachi keeps Sasuke I check I’m sure. But Naruto has a lot of energy for a child of his age and prone to doing damage to the surroundings when transformed.” At the door, Mikoto slipped on her shoes and stood. “Where straightforwardness doesn’t work, you need to be crooked. I hope you will take this advice Kakashi.” Kakashi nodded, so this was why Mikoto was chosen as the clan head, she did not have her head in the clouds and she had a fair idea about clan politics which would grow over time. Mikoto left. He walked into Naruto’s bedroom, while they were talking, he did not hear anything which might have indicated that Naruto was up. He could not help but chuckle, shaking his head when he saw both Sasuke and Naruto asleep, cuddled on the cot. He guessed that dinner could wait for another half an hour; hopefully Obito would also be back by then.

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Walking back to the Hatake clan compound, Obito kept worrying his lower lip between his teeth, a nervous tic he had gained over the years. Shujiro Uchiha’s proposition had been simple: either leave Naruto and Kakashi to marry and be bred, or leave the clan. He was fairly certain that there was a hidden catch in Shujiro’s words. He was not a person who would willingly let a sharingan bearer walk out of the clan. He deemed Kakashi bearing one of his eyes a danger as well as disgrace to the clan, in reality he was a power-hungry bastard. Even within the clan, Shujiro was known for his ruthlessness. Not even children, mere babes were safe from his clutches once targeted. Obito was really worried for Naruto. He was sure Kakashi could hold his own if targeted, but Naruto was a different matter altogether. He had promised his sensei that he would take care of his son, and that was becoming very difficult. He did not want to see Naruto hurt, or worse, dead. Obito knew that faced with this choice, he would undoubtedly leave the clan to take care of Naruto. Being a non clan affiliated shinobi was not so difficult for him. What he was afraid about was Kakashi’s reaction when he would hear about this. All these years later, Obito was still unsure as to what went on in Kakashi’s mind. While he was really protective of Naruto, he did not quite know how to show it. This often resulted in awkward interactions with Naruto. To Naruto, Kakashi was ‘doggy san’ because the idiot had thought it would be good to meet Naruto in his ANBU mask when he was just learning to talk and now he wouldn’t call him anything else even without the mask. Nobody spoke much in their household. While Naruto babbled a lot of gibberish, his actual words were very few. But both Shikamaru and Ino spoke clearly. Kakashi was ‘doggy shan’ and Obito was ‘ma shan’ to Naruto, very touching but embarrassing at the same time. But their relationship with each other was ambiguous at best. If he didn’t come to a decision soon, things could go south. He was surprised to see Mikoto with Sasuke, preparing to leave when he entered the house. He knew Mikoto had done what he had been avoiding for the past few weeks. She wished him luck before leaving, he really needed it. Kakashi’s face gave no indication as to what he was thinking. “Did Naruto eat?” he asked. Kakashi nodded, “he’s asleep. Wash up, and then we’ll eat.” Dinner with Kakashi was awkward. He would suddenly stop eating and stare at him piercingly for a few moments before starting to eat again at random intervals. It was unnerving. It was as if he was waiting for Obito to say something first. Unable to stay still and bear it anymore, Obito finally started, “Um Kakashi, I had something to tell you.” The almost instantaneous “I know” managed to freak him out even more. Kakashi was speaking without any incentive, which was not normal; “I know you have been given an ultimatum to either leave us or leave the clan, and that the man who came up with this idea would do anything to keep you in your clan and have you bred like a bitch. And that Naruto could potentially be in danger if you leave the clan.” Obito winced, he had expected a lot of things, but he had not expected Kakashi to sound this angry. And it wasn’t a good idea to be near him when angry. Already the hairs on his back were straightening and he could hear faint crackles in the air. Kakashi was mostly apathetic to things around him; however he couldn’t control himself when he heard it all from Mikoto. By all means, Obito should have been the one to tell him this, instead it was Mikoto. He did not like it at all. Picking up things from body language was something he had learnt a long time ago. Therefore it was long apparent to him that Obito was keeping something from him, as it was clear from Mikoto’s words that he would probably have bypassed the whole issue and he would never have learnt of it till it was too late. “I had my reasons Kakashi, I was still trying to decide-” “I understand that you are in a dilemma. Did it not occur to you to at least approach me about this? Taking care of Naruto is not a one man job. We are taking care of him together!” Kakashi’s voice was gradually rising in volume till Obito felt like the whole room was vibrating with his voice. Obito felt like burying himself when Kakashi finally stopped his rant. He looked like he was waiting for him to say something. Obito could not quite fathom what more Kakashi wanted to hear from him, he knew everything he was going to tell him. He had received his message; it was evident from Kakashi’s actions that he only cared for Naruto. To be frank, it was enough for Obito. Previous experiences had given him the view that he did not deserve most things. So the thought of Kakashi even considering him was far-fetched. When Kakashi stormed out of the house, Obito calmly collected and washed the dishes, had a bath and slept beside Naruto’s cot that night. Kakashi did not come back the next day or the after that. Obito did not find him on the Hokage Mountain. He was not at the memorial. Naruto kept asking him where he was; “I don’t know where doggy san is sweetheart” Obito told him for the umpteenth time. His patience and sanity kept dwindling at an alarming rate. Naruto refused to eat without Kakashi on the third day, no amount of pleading could make him eat. “Naruto chan, please eat.” “No! Brin’ me doggy shan. Doggy shan play with ‘unai with me. Want doggy shan!” Naruto ran out of the dining room. Obito was almost hysterical when he barged into Mikan’s office at the end of the day. “Obito what’s wrong?” he broke down on hearing that; it had been a long time since someone had asked him such a question. He babbled on about everything that had happened in the past few days. Mikan listened. “Obito, look at me. You deserve every good thing that ever happened to you. All of us make mistakes. You love Naruto very much don’t you?” he choked out a yes and continued, “but I don’t know what is right and what is wrong. Not anymore. Kakashi hates me, now Naruto hates me too. I don’t know what to do. I have been making a fool of myself since I was born.” “I know you love Naruto and that you like Kakashi. But he is being an idiot if he is being like this. I am aware that it hurts but I want you to block it all for a moment, I will find Naruto and see if I can make him eat something. Go home, have a nice bath and sleep. I will give you a tonic if you need one. Kakashi is emotionally constipated, and I am sure he did not mean what he said. both of you are a bit unstable now. Take some time for yourself.” As she escorted Obito out of the room, she saw Shikaku standing at the waiting area for patients, Kakashi at his side. On closer look, one could see he was bound to the floor by his shadow. “I wonder if any of you know why I found him in a bar in tea country. You should have seen how he ran when he saw me. I almost lost him.” Kakashi’s eyes were fixated on a very interesting spot on the floor, he wouldn’t look at Obito. Mikan quickly tried to move him away as he flinched on seeing Kakashi. “Aunty!” the shout made them look at the door. It was Ino, she was crying. “Aunty, two meanies took Naruto away. We were playing hide and seek, I was hiding. Naruto was looking for us, and then those meanies came and took him away. I couldn’t find Shikamaru, so I came here.” she started sobbing again. Obito’s world fell apart that very moment. It happened in an instant, the panic, the fear and then he saw red. By the time the hokage learnt of this, four blurs were racing through Konoha, a sensor at their lead. Mikan and Shikaku wisely kept distance from Kakashi and Obito. The latter two were not really in their senses anymore, animals in a human body. They gleaned the descriptions of the men from Ino. They matched with the descriptions of two A class missing nin from Iwa, Matashi and Taiko. They were gaining on the duo, who were rapidly moving towards the forests on Konoha’s outskirts. The Nara couple parted ways with them at the entrance of the forest as Mikan sensed a different chakra signature. Whoever had taken the kids, they were going to pay.

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Racing through the forest, Kakashi’s mind was set on one thing, to kill the ones who had taken their cub; Obito and his cub. Both Obito and he dodged incoming attacks without breaking a sweat. As they intercepted the duo of missing nins, Obito’s lone sharingan was whirling, looking for Naruto. “Where is our child? You took our child. You hurt him. Pay!” those were the last words Matashi would ever hear, for his hand was torn from his body the next moment, he saw a thousand crows pecking out his eyes and trying to eat his innards, he saw maggots crawling inside his own body, eating him from inside out. A few seconds later his body had been reduced to a bloody mess of flesh and blood, a result of using his own jutsus on himself. Taiko never had a chance, impersonating a dead missing nin was risky as it is, and the silver haired guy before him looked deranged. When Kakashi was done, one could not really make out what was left of the body. The scant fearful shrieks which were heard throughout the forest were unfortunately only heard by the animals.

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When Naruto woke up, he did not see the bad men, but he saw that icky red thing which sometimes covered doggy shan when he came home. That red thing was everywhere. He struggled out of the hollow of the tree he was in. He did not know this place. Fighting the urge to cry, he toddled towards the place where there was red everywhere. Then he saw both ma shan and doggy shan there, he thought they had forgotten about him. But they were his mama and dada too, Shikamaru had told him that. Ma shan was covered in that red thing too. They were looking for him, he ran towards them as fast as his little legs could carry him. “Dada, mama!” he was tackled into a hug immediately, both mama and dada was crying, he was crying too. Shikamaru’s mother had told him that it was okay to cry though, so it was okay. His father and mother were here, they had come to find him, just like in those stories mama read to him every night. Naruto was safe; their cub was safe and sound. “Mama me is showwy, me did not eat! Dada bad guy came, give me owie!” he cried. “It’s okay baby, we are not angry. We are so happy that you are safe!” Obito had never felt this relieved before, Kakashi was holding on to both of them, making soothing croons. It was not over; they still had to find Shujiro. Shujiro Uchiha was going to be a very dead man when they would catch up with him.

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Shujiro was very pleased with himself as he made his way through the forest; back to the secluded holiday cottage he had bought for this purpose. The sleeping Nara boy in his arms added to his delight, the boy was going to look absolutely beautiful in his bed tonight. It was an added bonus, those mercenaries had no interest in him, and so the child was his for the night. It was too late when he realized that he was caught in a shadow binding technique. He was sure that his chakra was being kept from being sensed by his technique, he had not expected the Nara woman to be this strong a sensor. As Mikan Nara carefully took her sleeping son from his immobilized arms, her husband said, “They should be on the way now.” “Yeah, I can feel them coming. Naruto is with them.” his wife remarked. “The fox is alive?” he could not contain his surprise, the mercenaries he had hired had a very good record; nothing was going according to his wishes. Dying seemed to be a better option. “Should we kill him Shikaku?” “No. he does not deserve that mercy. It would be better if we left him for Naruto’s parents. It will be a treat to watch.” That night, Shujiro saw hell in the form of two young men. He cursed the smiling couple who saw his suffering till the end to hell and back. Not that it really mattered. Many seasoned members of the squad which came to clean up the remains of last night’s carnage had to refrain from vomiting when they saw the remains of the two missing nins. They never recovered Shujiro Uchiha’s body.

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(This song matched the theme of what I wanted to present at the end of the chapter, I would advise the readers to listen to this while reading: https://youtu.be/oUFJJNQGwhk)

The noisy council room was reduced to pin drop silence when Obito entered the room after the hokage. No one commented on the blood stained uniform he was wearing. “I, Obito Uchiha hereby voluntarily withdraw my name from the Uchiha family register. Henceforth, my name will not be associated with any circumstances, events and incidents in the Uchiha family. I voluntarily revoke my status as a clan affiliated shinobi to a non clan affiliated shinobi.” No hands were raised to the hokage’s question if there were any objections. He entered the room as an Uchiha and left the room simply as Obito, not Obito Uchiha. As he raced towards the Hatake clan compound, Obito thought that the surroundings looked especially beautiful. That big house did not look so foreboding now. He saw Kakashi standing in front of Naruto’s cot, he too had the blood stained clothes on. He was sleeping; someone had fed and bathed him, probably Mikan san. Obito was not in a state to talk. He stopped Kakashi, who was trying to tell him something. Then he slapped Kakashi across the face, hard. “You absolute idiot! I was freaking out here. What if something happened to you, what if Naruto got hurt?! I already lost Rin, sensei and Kushina san, I would die if I lost Naruto and you.” he hissed, voice gradually lowering till he was sobbing, head buried in Kakashi’s jounin vest. “I…I am sorry.” It was all that came out of Kakashi’s mouth after some time. The sun was pretty high up in the sky when they finished washing themselves up and treating all the wounds. They let Naruto sleep. Kakashi had a million things which he wanted to tell Obito, but he guessed it could wait as they sat on the engawa, nursing cups of an anti inflammatory blend left by Mikan san. “So you are not a part of the Uchiha clan anymore huh?” “Huh? Yes. I left the clan.” Obito mumbled, looking distant. “Em, Obito, I think you are really strong. No scratch that, I know you are really strong.” Oh god, Kakashi was absolutely messing this up. “I want you to know that I don’t consider you inferior in anyway. What I say next could mean that, so I am clarifying this.” “You did consider me inferior once, don’t deny it Kakashi.” “I’m not. But now I don’t and I’m sorry I ever did. But what I wanted to say was would you want to em, mate with me?” Obito’s dumbstruck expression made him hurriedly add, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Its better if you forget I even said anything regarding this.” Mating implied marriage in the future, Kakashi hoped Obito knew that. He knew he was blushing, it did not help that Obito looked like a tomato too. Finally he squeaked out something. Kakashi wasn’t very sure what it was though; he could hear the blood rushing in his ears. Way to go, he had succeeded in ruining his image in front of Obito and making an utter fool of himself. He suppressed the urge to bolt; he was so not ready to face a rejection from Obito. His heart wouldn’t be able to take it. “Kakashi, don’t die on me!” Obito was shaking him. “Just tell me!” he almost pleaded. “Oh god I said yes, you idiot. Yes!” It was surprisingly simple. Barring the part where they repeatedly kept asking each other if this was a dream, or a very bad joke, biting the scent gland at the junction of Obito’s neck and shoulders, Kakashi wondered if this was what heaven tasted like. The raised skin gave way with a soft pop and sweet pheromones filled his senses. He was kind of high on the scent for the rest of the day. Mikan did not bat an eye lid when she noticed the bandage on Obito’s neck the next day, “Took you two long enough.” Even though she had been present as a witness, along with her husband. Obito was sure she was doing this only to fluster him, he didn't have a mask like Kakashi to hide his face in. The hokage only smiled and wished them a happy future together when he saw them leaving the registry office with the marriage certificate. Their friends demanded a party, so they threw one. Somehow it ended up involving most of the jounin and chuunin of Konoha. In the end, it was a marriage of convenience, right? Every one of their friends and colleagues always insisted otherwise, not that they would ever tell each other that. What actually mattered was that Naruto was happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is a work in progress. I started this on a whim. But now it has developed a mind of its own. I have kind of stopped trying to control what happens to the plot in my brain. So I am sorry if the story sounds too rushed at times. I even have a sequel planned for this. I sincerely hope to edit this and repost a better, refined version at some point in the future.


	7. Author's Note

Its just that I wanted to ask you guys if any of you have any idea about Mikan's kekkei genkai. I just want to listen to your ideas even though I already have her kekkei genkai planned. I have uploaded my story in fanfiction.net too. the username is the same, but there are spaces instead of the underscores. After a lot of deliberation, I have decided to add sibling incest to the tags, incest will be considered normal in my story, but rare. The incestuous pairing will be revealed in the next chapter. This will form the basis of further events important to this story. Anyone not comfortable with it can choose not to read, I am not forcing any of you to read my story. I welcome any form of constructive criticism, please do not hesitate to point out anything you want to. Thank You.


	8. Blood In The Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is happening to Obito, and he needs to figure out how and why it is happening. Being mated to Kakashi, along with being slightly in love with him doesn't help at all. Kakashi is in a similar state. Poor them. An old lady is introduced(let's see how many of you can make a guess as to who she is). Having your twin brother as your mate can be tiring and terrifying, but absolutely worth it in the end, Hiashi can attest to that. Someone save Iruka from the madness that is Anko Mitarashi!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry. I have nothing more to say about that. Except that consecutive family members being diagnosed with COVID 19 and going into isolation repeatedly took a lot out of me. It was the number one factor for this delay. Please Forgive this poor soul. Each and every bookmark and hit has similarly contributed to the posting of this chapter. I also have some not very good news, I maybe going to leave my home to study in a college out of my hometown, and unless I get a laptop, I cannot write and post chapters from there. If that's not possible, it could mean a long hiatus for this fic. I don't know what is going to happen, but just a heads up for you guys. But I assure you, even if it takes me ten years, I will complete this fic.

Yenka watched her brother crawl, fascinated. Little Hyo was only five months old; yet he crawled so well and was already starting to stand. A tinkling sound broke through her musings, Hyo was standing, and his eyes were fixed on the silver anklet in his hand. Where did he get it? She got up and went to her mother, intent on asking her if she knew about it. She never noticed Hyo beginning to take little, wobbly steps towards their grandmother, who was seated at the table. Later, Yenka’s mother came back to see Hyo in her mother-in-law’s lap, giggling while staring into thin air. She smiled; she could always count on her to keep the kids occupied. According to her husband, she could make illusions with her eyes. She used to do the same for Yenka when she was younger. When she first came into the family as a newly-wed bride, she had been frightened by those onyx eyes which turned to red at will. But now she found them very pretty. Apparently, her mother-in-law had been a shinobi in her youth, but retired after giving birth to her fourth and last child. So many people came to her mother-in-law for treatment. She would use her red eyes and diagnose any ailments. She never refused anyone, and only charged those who could afford it. While she was very gentle, she would not let anyone walk over her. She remembered a feudal lord who had come to her for treatment once, and would not leave till she treated his son. The son was a terrible person who had abducted and raped many women and children when healthy, now he was dying due to a venereal disease. Healing him would mean further oppression for many. Her mother-in-law made the man see something which made him pale and he left with his whole entourage immediately. They never heard from him again. She knew they were safe as long as she was there with them. Satisfied, she went back to complete washing the clothes.

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Watching her grandson play, Amai smiled, the heaviness in her chest decreasing somewhat, but not completely. She was no stranger to loss. She knew her daughter was gone. She had felt it, felt that string break a long time ago, eighteen years ago to be exact. Her dam had been a very knowledgeable person, as she had heard from her aunt. She had never got to see him; he had died giving birth to her. Aunt Mito had told her what she knew; she had learnt from her that he was a very proud, intelligent, shrewd but brave person. When she had asked for an example, her aunt had told her that her dam had done something very few could do. He had sacrificed everything, his name, his reputation, his heart, his very life to give birth to her safely. According to her, her dam was a very proud person, and it had been very hard for him to give it all up, but he had done it for her sake. Then she learnt about her sire, and just how devoted he was to her dam. She had learnt just how dangerous and volatile the situation was during her birth; her sire had never known of her existence, her uncle, the one who was alive, could never come to see her. Only aunt Mito would come to see her, she would bring her children sometimes. She never let her go to Konoha. It was too dangerous, she would say. They sent her to the Arashi family, a distant relative of the Uzumakis in Kusagakure for her safety. Amai would visit sometimes to see her aunt grow old, and she saw her pass on the Kyuubi to Kushina, the next jinchuuriki. Then she saw her aunt die. Years later, Uzushio was destroyed by the war. A part of her was gone with it. She received a lot of books and scrolls from the survivors. She studied them all. She learnt about her dam’s clan, the Uchihas. She learnt of her sire’s clan, the Senju. Her dam’s wisdom was apparent from his writings on the clan, particularly about the sharingan, its forms, and the curse of hatred. “When a man learns to love, he must bear the risk of hatred.” It was like a fundamental truth of life. None of them were saints, hardened by the constant strifes of life. While she had never been to Konoha, she had been an active shinobi for a long part of her life, she was aware of the extra baggage, both physical and mental; which came from such lifestyle. Against her will, she had sent her only daughter to live in Uzushio before it was destroyed. Chihaya was gone, but a lingering tie remained. As did Amai’s lingering hope that she probably had a descendant from her daughter. That person, whoever it is, still remains alive. None of her other sons and their children had inherited the sharingan. Therefore there remained only one feasible option that it was her daughter’s child who had the sharingan, else she wouldn’t have felt their presence. The chakra in their blood always sought those with the same blood, and their sharingan served to amplify it. This was how she had always felt her daughter, even when she was away, and her child. It had to be them, one of those who would set the wheels in motion. The wheels which would lift Uzushio’s curse, bring her back to life and let her prosper once more, head held high. It was high time this happened. Being patient should be second-nature to a shinobi, so she waited.

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Shikaku had liked Minato; he had been a good person, and a proper hokage. But he held him in a degree of respect due to a different issue entirely. It was due to one simple fact, he acknowledged. As a shinobi, Shikaku was aware that they needed to use deception most of the time, even the simplest genjutsus and henge were a form of deception and trickery. However, a lot of problems which plagued Konoha could have been solved earlier, with minimal loss of man power and resources if those handling them would have acknowledged certain facts and incidents, instead of blaming each other to hide their own ineptness. Whenever anyone would tell Minato that his wife was the best seal master in Konoha, he would always reply that she had learnt from the best, with Kushina nodding her assent. The mentioned person was his own wife. Apparently she had been self-taught, while Kushina had been taught by Uzumaki Mito. However, she would always insist that it was Mikan who had actually taught her the fundamentals of sealing, followed by application. Kushina had been a very strong and talented shinobi who had made a few new fuuinjutsus, but she would frequently come to Mikan to take ideas and straighten out possible kinks. Yet it all paled when compared to his wife’s prowess in sealing. She had just never bothered to mention it to other people. Currently she was in the middle of refining a new fuuinjutsu, back in a secluded room built especially for this purpose. His father had had it constructed for her when he had discovered his daughter-in-law’s talent in sealing with full approval from the hokage, not that they needed it. Shikamaru was asleep, having tired himself out by reading up all his allotted kanji for the day at once. Damn, he would soon surpass his poor father at this rate. He was already beginning to show traits that marked him as a future alpha, and he treated Naruto with a subtle possessiveness. Shikaku was sure he was looking at a future pair here, if Naruto’s behavior was any indication. But Naruto’s parents had to manage themselves first, newly mated or not, they were still a volatile combination. “Ne, Shikaku? Can you check if the positions of the seals in this scroll match with those on that one?” “Coming dear.” It wouldn’t hurt to say he was proud of his wife and son, but only a little bit.

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Hizashi Hyuuga was this close to bursting as he failed to find his kids in their rooms, it was the least likely of the places they could be at when playing hide and seek. To make matters worse, his mate was conveniently absent when he needed him, he was nearly 40 weeks pregnant, looking for his son and daughter with swollen feet and aching hips. Where was Hiashi when he needed him?! Walking past the old storerooms, he kept looking for any sign of his kids. He passed by one of the storerooms when a sudden shuffling sound caught his attention. He strained his ears; there was another shuffle, followed by few more. Now fully convinced that something was going on there, he quickly pushed open the door to the last storeroom and moved to the side as quickly as his pregnant body would allow. A lot of things came tumbling out at once, an ancient, half moth-eaten rug, a few boxes and some dusty scrolls, followed by a wriggling ball of something Hizashi couldn’t quite see well in all the dust. When the dust cleared, he saw two white tiger cubs. Hizashi blinked twice, and then he activated his byakugan. He was absolutely stunned when he sensed his kids’ chakra signatures from the cubs. White tigers were so rare; he remembered seeing one at the daimyo’s estate when he was a child. But then he remembered the hokage’s words from the emergency meeting he called a few weeks ago. So his children were shifters too. It was definitely a milestone in their lives, but that did not exempt them from punishment. He shot a withering glare at the pair, who immediately sat down, chastised and debarred from any further attempts at play-wrestling. Tsume’s boy had done a splendid job breaking his daughter’s shyness, but he fervently hoped his obedient daughter had not turned into an unruly and disobedient child. Another glare made them change back and rush into their rooms. Looking at the mess made, he could already feel a headache coming. Where the hell was Hiashi?! When Hiashi Hyuuga came home from an extended emergency mission that night, he was slightly thrilled to know of his kids’ shifting, but quickly paled in horror the moment he saw Hizashi’s face. He had forgotten to inform his mate that he would not be able to attend dinner. As a child, Hiashi was more prone to temper tantrums which he eventually learned to contain, like a proper Hyuuga should. But Hizashi’s anger was something to behold. His brother, well, his mate had never really held such family rules in high regard. That night, Hiashi had to sleep in the study room he used as a child. He did not even get to sleep the whole night because he had to satisfy a horny Hizashi who wouldn’t look at his face. It was punishment; his mate wouldn’t look at him during the most intimate moments. When they were newly mated, a lot of people had spoken behind his back that he was a narcissist who couldn’t stand the face of a different person as his mate. But both he and Hizashi knew how wrong it was, because they may have been identical twins, yet there were a lot of subtle differences in their behavior. He also believed he could never make the same face that Hizashi made whenever he tried to cook something, or when he was pleased. Even their smiles were different, the real ones at least, very few people could attest to that. Hyuugas were called cold-hearted by a lot of people, he did not deny it. But he also couldn’t deny the way his heart swelled and warmed when Hizashi would smile at him. To be able to gaze upon a face the same as your own, yet so different, the face of someone you loved, everyday, was something Hiashi considered a blessing. It broke his heart when Hizashi behaved like this. He hoped Hizashi would calm down soon; it was also not good for the child in his womb. Their child, the third one to be precise. He couldn’t wait to meet her (He was so not going to admit it to Hizashi, ever.)

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He had that dream again, no, not the one where his pants got stolen. He had to use it as an excuse when he was running late to a meeting with Rin. It was a dream so realistic that he often wondered if it really was one. In the dream, he was being taken by somewhere by a woman, she looked so much like him that he was sanguine that this person was his mother. They would be climbing stairs and passing through beautifully decorated corridors. The dream always ended when they reached a door; there were a pair of birds carved on its door. He had a feeling that he knew what those birds were, but he could never pinpoint it. It could have been a memory for all its worth, a really old one, that was the feeling he always had. However, the issue went into the unknown territory when he debated the chances of it being a memory. Because his earliest memories went back to the first time he ate the caramel made by his grandmother. He was seven then. He could never remember anything before that, no matter how much he tried. It had been a taboo topic back when his father had been alive. He had never seen Uchiha Hisami like a father. The man hated his guts, said that he was a monster who had killed his mother and he never deserved what he got. The more he cried, the more he got beaten till his father grew tired of him and sent him to his grandmother. She had tried so hard to take him in permanently, but it had not been possible before his father’s death. He had been somewhat relieved when Uchiha Hisami had been declared KIA. It was then that he learnt to mask his tears with bright smiles, and a general callousness and clumsiness which immediately made most people avoid him. It was better this way; he was not going to risk his life and knowledge by presenting it to people, a façade would do the job of distracting people from his progress. There were a lot of problems in his way, but he solved them all. Then appeared the biggest roadblock of them all, a puny, silver-haired guy who looked like he couldn’t hurt a fly, but was actually very dangerous and talented. His eyes were all-seeing, and it immediately noticed his façade and started to unravel it. Back to their time as genins, he used to pick fights with him just to enforce his façade. He had been truly annoyed too. He had spent years perfecting his façade, and then suddenly an all-rounder appears out of nowhere and almost exposes him completely. He, Kakashi, was everything that he was not. Yet, he was everything that he too was, only if he revealed his true self. There were a few people who would support him if he did reveal himself like that; it was actually all that he needed. But he had become so used to his façade that he couldn’t stop his act. It was the same person, for whom he couldn’t leave his façade, who made him leave it. Perhaps it was meant to be. At least that was what Mikan san said when he finally caved in after a lot of coaxing and assurances. Her startled face had suddenly lit up with excitement when he described his dream to her. Then she became thoughtful. That was a few days ago, today; she was taking him to a secluded training ground for a one on one spar. During the spar, she would stop at sudden intervals and start pointing out similarities between their fighting styles. Obito had never noticed it before; after all it had only been a few years since he consciously started fighting in this way and not in the academy style or his sensei’s style either. Now he could see it. But he couldn’t remember learning it from anyone. Most of the things he had learnt were through scrolls which he got from the civilian restricted section of the library using his father’s jounin level pass. After his father’s death, his pass had been relocated to the largest drawer behind the mission assignment desk, where those passes would lie in a heap. Swiping one was easy. Later the hokage had issued him a special pass on both Shikaku and Mikan san’s insistence. He couldn’t possibly repay this debt. While he couldn’t remember learning them, he performed them flawlessly, according to Mikan san. That was very odd. He knew chakra had memory too, so proper training would lead to certain moves becoming like reflex, which was augmented further by chakra memory. The matter was presented before the sandaime. Kakashi had to know about it too. Shikaku san, the sandaime as well as Mikan san, all of them had said that it was absolutely his decision. It was up to him about informing Kakashi. He did not find a reason not to. He did not think Kakashi would take such an interest in the matter. Mikan san had told him that she would try to find out the reason behind such dreams and occurrences to come to a conclusion. He was dying to know.

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Shikamaru had trouble understanding what went on in his parents’ minds sometimes. He could only guess some parts, though his father would always assure him that it was okay and that he was learning in leaps and bounds. Today however, he could sense a sort of excitement in both of them. His mother was a picture of barely contained anticipation; even his normally poker-faced father looked a bit excited. He wasn’t worried though, his parents were surely able to handle most things which life threw in their way. Like that time when Naruto got kidnapped. He had immediately felt something was wrong when those masked men approached them. After all no normal person would meet a group of three year olds playing hide and seek like that. He had been planning to have a nap in his favorite hiding place. He was sure no one would be able to find him there, except Naruto. He had a knack of finding him out no matter how well he hid. Oh well, he would just pull in Naruto for another nap when discovered. The place was big enough for them two. That was how he had avoided detection and followed those missing nin till stepping on some dry leaves had led him to be discovered and subsequently, knocked out. He had woken up in the hospital with his mother at his side; Biwako obaa san checked him for injuries and cleared him. His parents had assured him that Naruto was alright. On asking what else had happened, both his parents had smiled mysteriously and said there had been a lot of fun, but for the grownups only. He would understand when he became older. Two days later, Obito and Kakashi san left Naruto with him as his parents went with them somewhere. Naruto’s parents looked really flustered, blushing and all when they came in to take him. Later his parents explained to him that Naruto’s parents were now officially his parents. He did not quite understand what that meant. He had always thought that they were Naruto’s parents, even though they looked nothing alike. He did understand that they were mated now.

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It would be wrong to say that Obito wasn’t excited. He was really excited actually. Kakashi was excited too, he was just better at not showing it. But there was an air of anticipation around him which Obito was sure he wouldn’t have been able to sense had they not been mates. His senses had been fine tuned a bit when he became Kakashi’s mate. When he had finally mustered up the courage to tell Kakashi, he had been afraid for a moment that Kakashi would react like he did when not told about Shujiro Uchiha’s ultimatum. Thankfully he didn’t. Mikan san had given him a very suggestive smile and told him not to tell Kakashi what he felt. “The brat is more sensitive than you think. Not to mention that you two are mated now.” Obito had had enough, thank you. He did not want a rerun of past events. If anything, he wanted to put a part of his past behind him as well as find out what was happening to him. So the Nara couple was in the Hatake clan house. Mikan san had been carrying a small scroll when she came in with Shikaku san. It looked like a sealing scroll, but the seal was much more intricate than the ones normally used on basic sealing scrolls. Kakashi looked quite interested too. When she unsealed the scroll, a lot of things came out, a bunch of letters, pictures and newspaper cuttings. There were a lot of books and scrolls too. These scrolls looked like ordinary scrolls, but on a closer glance, one could see that they were not made of the standard paper normally used in making them. The material looked like parchment. “Kakashi, plug your nose with something, it will smell. The mask doesn’t matter.” Kakashi complied, if he was surprised he did not show it. True to her words, the moment she opened a scroll, there was an unpleasant smell. “Your noses will get used to the smell quickly.” She told the others, wrinkling her nose. Kakashi had probably unplugged his nose for a moment and hurriedly re-plugged it, all the while making noises which sounded like gagging under his mask. It really was a nasty smell. “Is that animal membrane?” Kakashi asked after stopping his gagging. “Yes. It isn’t supposed to smell this bad after drying, but this batch was made in the old way where the smell is retained.” It turned out to be a pretty productive evening for Obito. Most of the scrolls and books contained jutsus exclusively belonging to Uzushio, with elaborate diagrams and explanations regarding execution of each move and chakra theory. All of these Obito could perform without prior knowledge; yet he had felt like he was grasping at straws. Knowing the details and theory of these jutsus helped deepen his interest. Mikan san had a lot of scrolls on fuuinjutsu and its application too. Both Minato sensei and Kushina san had been extremely proficient in the art of sealing. Kakashi had picked it up from sensei fairly quick, he too showed talent in sealing. Fuuinjutsu had never really appealed to him before. When the Nara couple finally left, Obito had at least a dozen scrolls on sealing and books on Uzushio’s history. Obito had no idea what to do with it. Mikan san had only given him a look he couldn’t quite describe and asked him to have a read. “Do tell me if you recognize something.” She had told him before leaving, her hands squeezing his own. There was a look of quiet desperation in her eyes, a silent plea, for what, Obito still didn’t know. But he was aware of a few things. Mikan san was Kushina san’s childhood friend, both of them had come to Konoha from Uzushio, Kushina san being the second jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi after Uzumaki Mito. But there had been no elaborations as to why Mikan san was sent with Kushina san, because as far as the agreement went, Konoha only required a jinchuuriki. He remembered this clearly because he had accidentally overheard sensei and Kushina san talking about this. He had been hiding on the tree, practicing a new technique for camouflage and infiltration, when the two settled down under the same tree to talk. Kushina san had been livid to the point where Obito considered shunshining to another tree as he feared that the current one would simply combust under her rage. She had screamed a lot about bigoted old farts who did not deserve Mikan that “Mikan” being some person he did not know but both Minato sensei and Kushina san seemed to know personally. For the first time in his life, he had also seen Minato not make any attempts to pacify her. His face resembled a storm cloud. He had never seen his sensei wear such an expression. It meant that those men Kushina san had mentioned most probably belonged to the shinobi council, and that they had said or done something to this Mikan person, who was very close to both of them. It had taken him a while, but he had eventually joined the dots after the Kyuubi’s attack and a few meetings with Mikan san. Obito had often noticed her gazing at the simplest things with a single-minded intensity at times and then mutter something equally baffling, till date he had heard her say the names of colors, a few numbers, scents and some instruments. She never explained anything about her behavior. He wasn’t sure if her husband knew. But Naras were naturally smart. He thought of asking Kakashi if he knew something. He had a lot of things to tell him too, he just wasn’t sure how to broach the topic. Honestly, being mated and married did not make much of a difference except being able to sense each other’s emotions better and ground each other maybe. Kakashi, Naruto, Obito. Three individuals, they were still the same. Kakashi was still in ANBU and mostly remained out on missions. Obito had started doing missions again, but mostly low-risk ones which were assigned by the sandaime. Naruto remained a happy, carefree child who babbled a lot especially after Ino and Shikamaru had taken it on them to make him learn more words than the basics ones like mama, dada, tinkle and potty. Naruto stayed with the Naras when both Obito and Kakashi remained away on missions. His mind was going off topic again. He needed to make a mental list of things he needed to talk about with Kakashi the rare moment when he was home.

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Kakashi had spent most of his life not doubting things, because he always evaded or ran away from such situations, it was his own observation. But being mated changed the matter quite a bit. It was easier to sense if Obito was keeping something from him, and vice versa, probably. At least he would ask him now. Back when he had first made Obito, at a glance, Obito had looked to him incredibly fake for some reason; he couldn’t exactly tell his sensei that Obito smelled wrong. It felt like Obito was suppressing his true self, the self who was not so stupid and bad at jutsus. The fact that he could pull it off so well before sensei and Rin and others with no one suspecting anything ticked him off even though he too was essentially doing the same, keeping himself from others. The other thing which ticked him off even more was that each and every one of Obito’s observations regarding him which he used to tell Rin and sensei loudly had turned out to be true. The package from Jiraiya containing Naruto’s belated birthday present had come in a few days ago. Along with the gift there would always be something for both him and Obito. He still remembered the first time Jiraiya gave him a book from his famed Icha Icha series that too with Naruto’s gift on his first birthday. One look into the book and Obito had thrown it aside as if it was some kind of plague and speed walked away, mumbling something about perverted old men corrupting the next generations and washing his eyes with bleach. It was also the day when Naruto added a new word to his steadily growing vocabulary, pervert. He would never tell Kakashi exactly what Jiraiya had gifted him. All that Kakashi knew was that it was a book too which Obito would snatch away and hide before Kakashi would manage to get a glimpse of it. Jiraiya would never tell him too, brushing it off by smiling lecherously. It had taken every ounce of self control for him to not try to tear the pervert apart. But damn, his books were very engaging. He had resorted to keeping out of Obito’s eyesight when reading the book. Obito had told him that he did not really care if he turned into a socially inept pervert, but had threatened him with bodily harm if the book was ever found around Naruto. As usual, he was already halfway through the book, out of Naruto’s eyeshot and by default, Obito’s. Yet not even such an engaging book could keep his mind from straying towards the mysteries surrounding Obito, who had taken to waking up every night at least once, talking about a dream which kept recurring. Today’s discussion with Mikan san and Shikaku san had yielded some results; he was with the latter poring over more sealing scrolls. Mikan san had been gracious enough to leave those with them. Kakashi had never seen Obito take interest in sealing, but this time he looked interested enough. He wondered if Obito was going to learn sealing, it would be good if he could learn it from Mikan san herself. Speak of the devil, Obito was calling his name. He was never going to admit it, but after being mated, he was finding it increasingly hard to stay away from Obito. Sometimes, he would feel that he was going to spontaneously burst into flames or melt into nothing when he saw Obito smiling. This was very alarming; he wasn’t used to being that emotional yet! So he started taking more missions. The sandaime had only sighed when he went to take the mission from him and said, “Kakashi, do come back alive, at least for your mate and child”. No one in his team had snickered though; they knew their captain very well. “Hatake Kakashi, come down from the tree this instant. Naruto wants to have a bath with you. And that book will not enter the house.” Obito was standing under the tree he was sitting on, looking directly up at him. “Maa, Obi chan, why are you being so mean to me? I will not leave the book around Naruto, I promise.” Obito visibly bristled; he was still so easy to rile up. Then his eyebrow started twitching, he was trying his best to control his temper, finally looking at him with a pout. It was incredibly adorable, if Obito hadn’t been looking at him, he would have recorded it all in his sharingan. It was not that he could not, while it would have been ridiculously easy if it had been someone else, Obito was turning out to be pretty much immune to most of his diversions, a part of him had been annoyed at first to learn that Obito could counter many of his jutsus. But it had quickly evaporated when he saw Obito having trouble actively countering his jutsus in a fight because he had been suppressing this side of him for a long time. It had taken more than a year for him and Mikan san to help him overcome it. “I’m not being mean, but you will be, in Naruto’s eyes, if you are late. So don’t be a pervert and give him some time.” He made his way inside after placating Obito. It had been a long time since he had actually relaxed when having a bath. Now, where was his cub? Those tiny, wet footsteps were easily visible on the otherwise dry floor. Ah, Naruto was going into the prankster stage finally. They grow up so fast. Slipping into the hot water, he let out a sigh. He had been too engrossed in mapping every part of Obito’s face and categorizing it as adorable in his perfectly photographic memory. Not good, he hoped he could pass off that blush on his face as caused due to being in the steaming bath. “Mama, papa is being a pervert, again!” Damn Naruto. What a brat! At least he had graduated from dada to papa. “You hurt me Naru chaaaaaaaaan…” he pulled the kid into the water, Naruto letting out a shriek in the process. Almost immediately the door slid open, revealing a very worried looking Obito. “Waah Naruto! Are you hurt?” he promptly reeled back with a blush and closed the door. “Bakashi, Naruto I swear I will tie you both upside down on one of the trees and leave you there for the night the next time this happens.” Both Kakashi and Obito let out a sigh, separated only by a door, so much for trying to ask the other something.

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Iruka Umino was on a mission, a highly dangerous one. At least he found it dangerous, no matter how much his friends and colleagues laughed it off. Only Obito san and Kurenai san had sympathized. Unfortunately, a mission is a mission; he only hoped his ass wouldn’t be groped this time. Anko Mitarashi was one crazy woman. It didn’t help that she was a dangerous shinobi who had no qualms about using her sex appeal and hormones to have her way with fellow and enemy shinobi alike. Her arrival was always accompanied by a deranged cackle, followed by a rush of hormones which often left him dizzy more than aroused. He was probably the only shinobi among his peers who was unaffected by her charm. For a chuunin, he was remarkably stubborn, a trait most of the shinobi population, students and parents alike would learn to fear someday. But that also meant that Anko’s mission reports were never submitted properly whenever he manned the mission assignment desk. She usually made the chuunin at the desk submit her report to her superior in the Torture and Interrogation (TI) department, a man named Ibiki Morino who was a real nightmare according to them, especially if the reports were not to his liking. She had however, not yet managed to make Iruka submit her reports even once. Unfortunately, this had led her to develop an unhealthy obsession with him. This included stalking and groping him everywhere, including the men’s public baths, the academy where he was still a part-time teacher, and his apartment. He would forever be grateful to Obito san for having his mate suggest a few improvements to his already formidable arsenal of booby traps lining the apartment, and it wasn’t that Anko didn’t get caught in them, but the woman was proving to be annoyingly persistent and difficult to shrug off. Due to the sudden deployment of many chuunin to the Iwa border owing to tense developments there, he was being sent to a check post being led by Anko san to deliver important information from the spies of Konoha. Shouldn’t a jounin be sent with such a thing, you wish. Iruka swore that the sandaime was becoming even more of a pervert with age; he had seen those magazines sneaked in between the reports, they were basically porn. And the old fart had taken to matchmaking in his spare time. He had not missed the smirk when he had handed over the mission scroll to him. Was the universe trying to screw him up by pairing him with the most dangerous woman in Konoha? He could see the temporary fence around the camp set up, he was absolutely dreading it. He dearly hoped the older woman would be busy, so he could quickly hand in the report and leave. He practically tiptoed inside the post, only to see Asuma san stirring something in a pot over the fire and practically chewing on his cigarette butt. As soon as he saw Iruka, he paled considerably. “Um, Asuma san, is something wrong?” Iruka was alarmed to see the blood draining from his face so fast. “Of course Pops would find it the best to send you here. If you want to make it out of this check post alive, hand me the report and leave, NOW.” Iruka was pretty sure it had something to do with Anko. He almost threw the scroll at Asuma san and tried to turn around, tried. He couldn’t turn around, and it felt like the surrounding temperature dropped a few degrees in an instant. “Ooh, my Ruka chan is here! Aren’t you going to play with me?” Anko was practically purring like a cat in heat, with a hand firmly set on his shoulder, which wouldn’t budge. He could dimly feel Asuma san face palming at a distance. “Oh, fuck my life!” he muttered to himself.


End file.
